Mask Madness
by Silver Lioness 200
Summary: When the Smashers come together for a tournament, an old enemy manages to escape from his imprisonment, and the masks from Link and Zelda's world somehow end up appearing among the competitors.
1. Chapter 1

**Mask Madness**

Chapter 1: Meeting the Competition 

"Ha!" Link swung his sword low, causing the moblin to fall backwards. The monster grunted, and tried to get back on its feet, but Link didn't give it a chance. With one quick swipe at the chest, the moblin had lost the match, as everyone before it had, to the master sword. Link wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his arm, breathing heavily. Good match he thought to himself.

Link made his way out of the Lost Woods and back out to Hyrule Field. His beautiful mare Epona neighed when she caught sight of her friend. Link smiled broadly at her, "Hey girl, ready to go back?" Epona nickered, and Link took that as a yes. The Hero of Time galloped back to the castle where his girlfriend Zelda waited for him.

"Hello, Link. How bad were the moblins?" Link shrugged, "The usual. Just a few strays." Zelda smiled, and her eyes lit up. "Haven't been bored lately, just with the moblins and all, have you?" Link raised an eyebrow at this, "I guess..."

Zelda then brought out an envelope, and handed it to Link as she grinned like a Cheshire cat, "It's a tournament! And _we've_ been invited to compete! There's also a huge cash prize, and that's something Hyrule could really use right now... Part of the market is still in rubbles from Ganondorf's attacks."

Link nodded in agreement as he read the letter, but then his eyes widened, "Wait! _We? _But Zelda-" "Now, hold on! I proved that I could handle myself while you were trapped in the Sacred Realm, remember?" "I guess, but-" Zelda shushed him with a quick kiss, then Link sighed in defeat. "Just be careful, okay?" Zelda smiled broadly, "You too."

"So, eh, where is this warp thing supposed to be again?" Link and Zelda were packed up and ready to go, and now they were trying to find a "warping spot" that would take them to something called an "airplane" that would then take them to the place of the tournament.

"Wait! Is that it?" Zelda pointed to a glowing circle, and Link nodded, "Well, let's go." When they stepped on the spot, everything around them seemed to disappear in a blur of colors. Link felt his head begin to spin, and started to worry, "What in Hyrule?" After what seemed like an eternity, their feet finally landed back onto solid ground. Both he and Zelda looked around wildly, "What exactly _was_ that?"

"That was the warp point. Crazy ride, huh?"

Link looked up, and he saw what looked like some kind of half bird-half man dressed up in really strange clothes. "Uh, yeah, it was. You here for the tournament too?" The bird man smiled, "Yup. Name's Falco, you?" Link shook hands with Falco, "I'm Link, and this Zelda." Falco nodded, then said, "Can you believe we're taking an airplane? Talk about old fashioned! We could get there a lot faster in a space ship, don't you think?" Link just stared blankly at Falco, "Eh, pardon? Sorry, I don't even know what an "airplane" or a "space thingy" is." Now it was Falco who blinked back blankly. "You're kidding, right?" Link shook his head, then Falco continued, "Ummm..." "Right... So, you from the Middle Ages or something?" "Uh, I'm from Hyrule, if that's what you mean..." "No! I was only kidding, but I meant, what time period are you from? I only said Middle Ages because that's when they just had swords and stuff." Link's eyes lit up, "I have a sword! So, uh, yeah, guess I'm from the Middle Ages or whatever." "You've gotta be kidding-" Falco's eyes widened as Link unsheathed his sword. "Uh, wow." was all Falco managed. "Um, could you wait here really quickly, I'm going to go find a friend of mine." Link shrugged, "Sure."

Falco took off toward the restrooms, where he found Fox. "Fox! You have got to come and see this! I found a couple of the competitors!"

Fox looked at his friend as if he were crazy, "What are you going on about?"

"They're from the Midevil times, and one's even got a freakin' sword!"

Fox rolled his eyes, "I'm not stupid, Falco." "No! I'm being serious! Just come and see for yourself!"

Fox followed Falco back to where Link and Zelda were waiting. Falco recomposed himself a bit, and introduced Fox. "Hey, thanks for waiting. This is my buddy, Fox." Link and Zelda introduced themselves as well, then Fox asked, "So, uh, Falco told me you had a sword?" Link nodded, then unsheathed it again, and Fox gaped while Falco smirked. Zelda looked confused, "Um, I was just wondering, how come Link having a sword seems to be so huge to you? Both looked a bit embarrassed, "Oh, sorry, it's just, well, we've never met anyone from Midevil times before." Link now looked even more bewildered, "But, what time period _are_ we in then?" "Well, I had assumed our own, but maybe not." Fox frowned, "Is that why we're taking an airplane?" "I don't know, but maybe we could go find the plane instead of standing here. All of this talk about different time periods is getting too confusing..." said Falco.

"Um, sorry, but what _is_ an "airplane"? asked Link nervously as he stared out a window and at one of the many flying machines outside. "You're looking at them." answered Fox. Link's eyes widened, "What? But, how?" "They fly." "They _FLY! _How in Hyrule can one of those things _fly!" _"Well, it's kind of complicated to explain, especially since you don't even know what a car is..." At Link and Zelda's worried expressions, Fox said, "Don't worry, you'll be fine." Link relaxed a little, but was still fairly tense.

Falco, who was starting to get impatient, said, "Okay you guys, let's get a move on." Just then, the warp point glowed, and the group looked at it curiously. Link smiled at the two new arrivals, maybe even with some relief, while Falco looked like he was ready to go find something to hit his head on. The red-haired one spoke first, "Um, hello, are you here for some kind of tournament as well?" Link nodded, then introduced himself, as did everyone else.

"I'm Roy, and this Marth. So do any of you know what this "airplane" thing is we're supposed to be taking to the tournament?" As Falco's head dangerously neared a metal pole, Fox hurriedly said, "Uh, yes, I'll explain it to you on the way there. We should get going." The two new swordsmen shrugged, then followed the rest of the group.

"Ah, here we are!" Falco showed his ticket to the man standing at the doorway, Bob according to his nametag, then walked down a ramp. Link and Zelda followed hesitantly, followed curiously by Marth and Roy.

Link thought about the man's appearance, Why did it seem as if he had been a bit burnt? Oh no, that wasn't from the air-thingy, was it?" Link stopped all of a sudden, and Zelda bumped into him. "Uh, Link, why did you stop?" Link blinked, then his face started to turn red, "Oh, sorry..." Zelda let it go, thinking he was just nervous about riding in this airplane thing, for she sure was.

After walking down the ramp, they finally came into a room where there were a bunch of seats. As Falco and Fox sat down, the others followed and did the same. "Um, I thought we were riding in an airplane?" asked Link. "We are. This is it." answered Fox. The three swordsmen and the princess gaped. "I'm so confused." groaned Link. "Just don't worry about it." said Falco off handedly.

"Pika! Pika Pi!" "Eh, pardon?" asked Link. "That wasn't one of us, look over there."

Fox pointed toward some of the strangest creatures Link had seen yet. Fox and Falco were animal people as it is, but really, those things couldn't possibly be competitors, could they?

All of a sudden, the larger yellow version of a mouse let off a bolt of electricity, and they all jumped back in surprise. "What the-?" The largest and strangest of the group noticed their reaction, and _glided _over to them. Not only that, but his lips didn't move when he talked, and yet they could hear him.

Well, thought Link, Atleast it sounds like a him. Sorry about that said the strange catlike wonder, "Pikachu had some difficulties getting here.

"Um, okay." Fox elbowed Falco, and Zelda asked politely, "Um, what difficulties?" The cat creature smirked, The man at the entrance told Pikachu that no pets were allowed, then sent for some men with cages. Pikachu's response was a bolt of electricity, and the man got pretty badly fried. I managed to explain things after that, and with a few threats, he finally let all of us on.

The group nodded mutely, still staring at the creature with wide eyes. Sorry, you haven't met any pokemon before, have you? I thought you two, he pointed at Fox and Falco, may have been two new ones I hadn't seen before, what with all the new ones coming along.

"Pika!" Oh, sorry Pikachu. By the way, my name is Mewtwo, this is Pikachu, Pichu, he pointed at the smaller form of Pikachu, and Jigglypuff, the big, pink round one puffed up. Link and the others then introduced themselves, and the pokemon all sat down.

As the minutes ticked by, Link observed all of the strange-looking competitors entering the airplane, first trying to guess at how he might win the tournament by looking for weaknesses and such, but then gave up as he didn't recognize hardly anything and started noting the strangeness of them instead.

Wow, that orange, strange armor looks pretty impressive. But what is that on their head? How can they even see? Wait, is that a little kid with a baseball bat? And a yo-yo? This is ridiculous... How can he be competing? Unless he can somehow let off energy like that "pikachu" guy. Now, who are those people? Atleast they are people, and adults, though that short, plump red one seems to be talking with some kind of weird accent to the pretty blonde in the pink dress. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was dressed like a princess. Maybe she is one, from our time period, but if so, then why is the short guy wearing clothes I haven't seen before? Oh, whatever. Here comes someone else. They sure are loud, whoever they are. I can feel the floor vibrating- What in Hyrule is that? That can't be allowed! He's some kind of dragon, but with a turtle shell thingy with spikes! And look at his claws! That _has_ to be a monster, and I bet he even blows fire from his mouth too.

"Damn." Falco's blunt comment caught everyone's attention, though they all knew who he was talking about. "What kind of tournament is this anyway?" asked Roy.

Everyone continued to stare at the huge reptile as he took up a whole row himself, while Link shifted his attention back to the doorway as someone else entered, having seen that the "dragon" did not seem to wish to fight. Let's see, now who's, or what's, coming- Link scoffed at the sight of the new arrival.

This is wrong, plain wrong. No one should be able to wear such tight clothing as that, especially not in public! Who does he think he is, anyways? Might as well not be wearing a top at all! Looking back at the doorway, Link calmed down a bit as he observed two more competitors, "More kids? I guess there's no age requirement for this thing. Wait, are they twins? Interesting. Hey, is that another pokemon? Looks like a male version of Jigglypuff, well, except pink isn't exactly a very manly color, now is it? Well, now what's this? It's like a cuter version of some lizard/dinosaur thing. Hmmm. At least they've got a good sense of color. Uh oh, _now_ what are those heavy footsteps from? Huh? A large monkey? With some kind of cloth around his neck? Okay...

A few more minutes passed by, and as no one else boarded the plane, Link and Zelda started to talk about the different competitors.

"I don't like the look of that dragon guy." said Link.

"Neither do I. What's with the spikes?" agreed Zelda.

Link shrugged, "I don't know, but let's just make sure we stay out of his way."

Zelda nodded, and everyone shifted their attention back to the entrance as some entered and closed the door. "Hello, and welcome to the master's private airlines. Before we take-off, I will explain what procedure to follow in case of an emergency."

The uniformed woman, apparently Jean, continued to explain things as Link and other competitors from his time period stared blankly at the "oxygen masks" and other supposed to be commonly known items found on an airplane. Finally, after the explanation, there was only five minutes left until the airplane left the ground. Link, Zelda, Marth, and Roy all held onto their arm chairs tightly, while Fox and Falco looked entirely relaxed. The nervous group jumped when the plane started to move, and they all held on for their dear lives as they continued down the runway.

Oh goddesses, please let us survive this... thought Link as the airplane tilted.

AN: Well, there's a short preview to the story. I know the beginning is a little dull, but it'll get better. _Please_ review.


	2. Chapter 2

**Mask Madness**

**Chapter 2: Arrivals**

Link heard Zelda gasp beside him as he thought, Faore! Both Marth and Roy started to talk in some strange tongue, and all four of them held on for their lives. Link closed eyes as he felt his stomach drop. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, it finally stopped, and the plane was once again level.

Link opened his eyes, and found everything to be the same, well, with the exception of the strange looks that he and his medieval group were now receiving. Fox and Falco looked lazily back at them, then smirked, "You guys okay?" All four of them seemed to come back to life at this question, and nodded mutely.

"Yeah, just, well, it was nothing I've ever experience before." stumbled Roy.

Everyone murmured in agreement, then Marth added, "I'm never doing that again." Falco laughed, "You will be if you plan on going back home after the tournament." Marth frowned at this fact, but remained silent.

"How long will it be until we get there anyways?" asked Zelda.

Fox shrugged, "I don't even know where we're going."

Falco leaned back in his chair, then added, "Might as well get comfortable."

All of the swordsmen looked at him as if he were crazy, as Zelda curiously examined the covered window. She figured out how to slide the cover, and peered out the window. However, immediately after, she shut it abruptly, catching everyone's attention with the noise. Link looked at her curiously, "Is everything okay, Zelda?" She blushed, then replied, "Yeah, I'm fine." Link raised an eyebrow, but didn't push the matter any further.

The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful, everyone keeping to themselves or their own little group. Link and his group fell asleep after awhile, but then woke up to the pilot informing them that they were going to land in five minutes. At this, Link was wide awake again.

"Um, is landing as bad as taking off?"

Fox wearily turned his head toward Link and blearily opened his eyes. "It's pretty much the same..." He then yawned and stretched, then woke up Falco, who's response was a punch in the face.

"Ow! Damn it Falco, get up! We're landing soon!"

Fox then punched Falco in the shoulder, and the bird man scowled at Fox, "Fine, I'm up." Link thought about waking Zelda, but then decided she'd be better off if she slept peacefully through the landing. Link braced himself once again, closing his eyes and trying to ignore his current situation. This better be some tournament... thought Link.

When the airplane landed and rolled to a stop on the runway, everyone else woke up and commenced to stretch and yawn. They then all grabbed their stuff and left the flying machine. As they walked together in a huge group, everyone avoiding Bowser, who simply rolled his eyes, they came out front of the airport where they found a large bus waiting for them.

Great, thought Link, another "machine thingy". At least this one doesn't fly... After this tournament thing, though, I am NEVER nearing another airplane in my life again.

The bus continued down through the small town, then turned onto a dirt road. After a little less than a mile, the competitors arrived at a large mansion, which almost everyone gaped at in awe. The building rose high out of the ground, pure white marble, and as wide as the eye could see. A beautiful fountain sat in the middle of the enormous, emerald green lawn, little droplets of water spraying off of it as the angel stood gracefully in her wind-blown dress.

"Wow, this is almost as nice as the castle." said Link.

Zelda smiled, "I have to admit, it is fairly impressive."

Everyone gradually entered the massive building through its giant oak doors, and admired the large, beautiful windows of which had sunlight pouring through them, creating little spectrums of rainbows.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to the Melee Mansion." Everyone averted their attention to the large, white glove that was apparently somehow speaking. "I am Master Hand, and I am the manager of this tournament. Here, you will face your most difficult battles, for I have invited only the best of the best to this tournament. Now, this is how things are going to work: Each of you will have your own room, and food will be provided in the dining hall. Off to the side of the mansion is a large, strange dome-shaped building. Here, there are warp pads that will send you to your battles. Well, that's the brief overview. Any questions?" Master Hand took the continuing staring as a no, and said, "All right then. Go ahead and get settled, then the battles will begin tomorrow." Master Hand left, then everyone started to talk to each other excitedly.

"Well, shall we go find our rooms?" suggested Zelda.

Link nodded, "Sure. Any preferences?"

"Let's go upstairs."

Link smirked, "Never one for changes, are you princess?"

Zelda crossed her arms and scowled slightly, "I simply like to be comfortable."

_**In Hyrule**_

"DAMN IT! THERE MUST BE SOME WAY OUT OF THIS HELL!"

Eternal darkness surrounded Ganondorf as he floated angrily and miserably through the Sacred Realm. He had no idea as to how long he had been trapped in this horrible place, and had no idea on how to get out. He didn't eat nor drink; he simply lived off of one, single thought: revenge. That is why he had not given up; that is why he still circled aimlessly through an absolute nothingness that only frustrated him.

Suddenly, Ganondorf turned his head abruptly, swearing that he had seen some kind of flash of light. He narrowed his eyes, and quickly, so quickly that the gerudo wondered if it was even truly there, a peak of white light shone through. A rasp could be faintly heard, then it gradually turned into coherent words,

"Master? King Ganondorf, can you hear me?"

Ganondorf responded quickly, "Who are you?"

The raspy voice came again, and as it spoke, the light blinked along with the words, "It is Dark Link."

Ganondorf smiled, "Excellent. How are you contacting me?"

The light came back to life, "I got a spell book."

"And in this book, did you find a way to release me from this dimension?" asked Ganondorf hopefully, while still retaining his strong and calm voice.

"Yes, master. It is here, in the book." Ganondorf smiled widely, revealing his horribly yellow teeth, "Well done, Dark Link. Will you be able to pull it off?"

"Yes; I already have what I need."

Ganondorf laughed, "Let's begin!"

**_ With the SSBM_**

Link rolled his eyes, "Come on, Zelda. We've looked at all of the rooms twice already."

Zelda huffed, "If I'm not comfortable, how am I supposed to battle well?"

Link sighed, "Okay, I understand that, but the rooms are pretty much identical!"

Zelda frowned, "No, they aren't. You just can't tell the difference because you grew up in a forest."

Link retorted, "At least the forest didn't make me unnecessarily picky."

"Fine, fine. I've made up my mind anyways."

"Thank the goddesses!"

Zelda rolled her eyes, then continued toward her room. "Come on, fairy boy!" "Hey! I finally got Malon to stop calling me that! Well, to an extent at least..." "See, just - "

Zelda stopped abruptly in front of "her" room. "Pikachu?" Pikachu, who was currently curled up in a corner, looked up blearily and yawned. "Pika." "Should have picked your room earlier." said Link.

Zelda sent a scowl at him, then returned to her current dilemma. "Um, Pikachu? Did you pick this room?" "Pika pi."

Link chuckled, but was silenced with a smack on the shoulder from Zelda. "Chu?" "Uh, I was wondering if you were using this room, and if not, if I could use it."

Pikachu came up to Zelda, looked up at her curiously, smiled, then held out his paws, "Pika!" "Ummm..." Link stepped in, "I think he wants to trade." Zelda raised an eyebrow, "Trade?" "Yeah. He's a mouse creature, isn't he? Maybe he likes cheese."

"Maybe. Do you think he'll trade the room for some cheese?"

Link shrugged, "I don't know, but I could go get some from the kitchen."

"Thanks, Link." Link dashed off, and Zelda smiled down at Pikachu hesitantly, "So, what brings you to the tournament?" This time, Pikachu raised an eyebrow. "Pika?" "Ummm, can you understand me at all?" "Chu? Pika pi chu pi!" Pikachu stood up straight, took in a deep breath, then started to, as far as Zelda could tell, sing, followed through with a little dance.

Although confused, Zelda went along with it, being polite, but then as she got into it, she began clapping along. Finally Link showed up after what seemed like forever, and handed Zelda the cheese.

Zelda smiled in gratitude, then handed the cheese to Pikachu. "Pika!" Pikachu's face lit up, then he took the cheese, bowed, and ran back into the bedroom, eating happily.

"What?"

Zelda stared blankly, then realized that Pikachu had danced for the cheese, and had not planned at all on giving up his room, having had no idea that that was what Zelda had been asking for in the first place.

Link smiled, "Cute little guy."

Zelda smacked her forehead, then turned on her heel and went next door instead. "Okay, room #2." Thankfully, this room was empty, and Zelda walked right in. "This room's the best one anyways."

Link shook his head, "I'm going to unpack next door, okay?" Zelda nodded, then continued to unpack her own belongings.

**_In Hyrule_**

"Is the opening becoming larger, master?" asked Dark Link. Excitingly watching the white circle enlarge, Ganondorf replied, "Yes! Keep going!"

Outside of the Sacred Realm, Dark Link turned toward a large figure disguised by the dark. "Master says it is working." The figure nodded, "Excellent."

"Ah!" The whole Sacred Realm trembled, and the white circle started to shrink. "Damn it, Dark Link! What's happening?"

Following orders from the figure, Dark Link replied, "Master, the spell of your imprisonment is fighting back, and you need to use your triforce piece of power against it."

Ganondorf grinded his teeth, and his piece of the triforce began to glow as he struggled against the strong magic. He looked over at the white circle, and grinned and pushed even harder as he once again saw it opening up.

"Excellent work, master. You're almost there." Some of the white from the circle began to spread through the darkness of the Sacred Realm in thin threads, breaking it apart. Shaking now from fighting against the imprisonment, Ganondorf was thrilled to hear Dark Link shout, "Go through the portal now!"

Ganondorf quickly dove head first through the portal and his way back into Hyrule, again thinking about the word "revenge". As he left the portal, Ganondorf grinned widely, but then grimaced as he hit went headfirst into a solid rock wall.

"Damn it! Dark Link, why do you have this portal right in front of a damn wall!" Ganondorf slowly made his way to his feet, then went to strangle his creation, when another figure caught is attention.

"Who the hell are you?" "I am the one who brought you here." "You? Ha. It was Dark Link, you fool." "Master, it was him who performed the spell that released you." "What?" Ganondorf immediately became suspicious, frowning, "Why?" The figure smiled, "I heard that you have also had some problems with this "Link", and desire to have your help in destroying him." "So... what has the brat done to you?"

"Back in Termina, when I had finally escaped from my own infernal imprisonment, he ruined my plans and had me trapped back into the very mask I had just managed to get away from, using other masks that contained powers of their own..."

A/N: Now more into the plot. For those of you who reviewed, THANK YOU. I _really_ appreciate that. And Fenix of the light, I am definitely open to ideas. Also, this is set for SSBM; Ganondorf and Young Link are just coming in later. Keep reviewing, por favor!


	3. Chapter 3

**Mask Madness**

**Chapter 3: Plans and Discoveries**

Link stood with his hands on his hips as he observed his room. "Well, that looks good enough."

Having finished unpacking in a little under five minutes, Link walked over to Zelda's room, then shook his head in amusement when he spotted Zelda hanging up some elegant light pink curtains.

"Is that really necessary, princess?"

Zelda climbed down from her position on top of the chair and admired her handiwork in satisfaction.

"Absolutely."

Zelda turned around and faced Link, suggesting, "You know, Link, I have another set, and pink _is _your color..." "No! If they were green, maybe, but _not _pink!" Zelda shrugged, "Have it your way, it's your room." "Got that right." said Link. This time, Zelda rolled her eyes. "Well, since you won't let me hang up pink curtains in your room, despite how nice it would look, what should we do, with it being before the battle and whatnot?"

Link shrugged, "We could go meet up with some of the other competitors. It's probably a good idea to try to make more friends than enemies with us sharing the same building." Zelda agreed, "True."

Link and Zelda walked down the stairs, and as they did, they spotted a short man in a white lab coat at the bottom. Link raised an eyebrow, "Maybe I missed him on that horrible "airplane", but I don't remember having seen him, do you?" Zelda shook her head, "No, but he kind of looks like that one guy in the weird red and blue clothes that was short and had a mustache." Link agreed, "Yeah, he does. Maybe he's that guy's brother?"

As Link and Zelda continued to wonder about the strange look-alike, the very man that Link and Zelda had been comparing him to walked to the bottom of the stairs. Zelda gasped, and Link gaped, thinking, "What in Hyrule?"

Having heard Zelda, both looked up and waved, and the one in the white lab coat asked, "Hello! Are you-a two here for the-a tournament too?" Link and Zelda nodded, and made it to the bottom of the stairs. "Yes, and, uh, and you?" stumbled Zelda.

The one in the white lab coat raised an eyebrow a bit, "Why do you look kind-a spooked?" Link started, "Well, we didn't see you on the airplane thingy, and then, well, you two look _exactly_ alike. Unless, are you twins...?"

With that thought, Link relaxed a bit, but tensed up again when the one in the white lab coat said, "Nope!" The one in red replied, "But, who-a are you, then?" "Why, I am-a Dr. Mario!" The one in the red hat exclaimed, "What? But I'm-a Mario! And I used to be-a Dr. Mario, but that-a was a year ago!"

Dr. Mario smiled, "Exactly! I'm-a you when you were Dr. Mario!" As Link and Zelda continued to gape, Mario replied as coherently as anyone could, "Huh?"

"You see-a," started Dr. Mario, "Master Hand has this, uh, time-warping stone-a thing that let him go back in time and pick me up!" Link, finally coming out of his daze at the mention of time travel, asked, "So, that's how everyone else got here as well?" Dr. Mario answered, "Yup, except Master Hand-a left warp spots for you guys-a!"

"But then," started Link, "Why were you not on the plane with us?" "Oh, well-a see, I had-a code blue surgery to attend to, so Master Hand-a agreed to bring me back-a later." Mario blinked, "Okay then..."

Zelda turned to Link and whispered, "Well, this turned out to be far more interesting than I thought it would be." Link replied, "Yeah, and we've only ran into two so far."

**_In Hyrule_**

"So, let me get this straight..." said Ganondorf with a bit of a frown creasing up his face, "This "Master Hand" has a luphira stone that allows him to travel through time, and he has used this stone to bring extraordinary fighters together to compete in a tournament. Link is one of them, and now you want _me _to compete so that I can take him out?"

"Yes." said Majora.

"Hmmm," Ganondorf started, "But how can I compete if I have not been invited to do so?"

Majora grinned, "I'm sure we can _talk_ the Master Hand into an agreement. Rather, we could steal his precious stone and only return if he agrees to let you compete."

Ganondorf grinned, "And use it while we have it."

Majora frowned, "For what?"

"Well, another problem I was thinking about is on how I would be able to defeat Link in a match. While I believe it is_ very _possible, it is not guaranteed."

"Ah, but you will be sharing a building with him, and you could sneak up on him in the middle of the night."

"Yes, except that Link is extremely hard to sneak up on. I was thinking, actually, that we use the luphira stone to retrieve a younger and more vulnerable Link instead."

Majora looked thoughtful of this, "That is a good idea. The only thing is that we would have to force Master Hand to retrieve Young Link right there and then. Though, I suppose we could still kill him on the spot. But then again, I want to torture the brat a bit first."

"How about this," started Ganondorf, "What if we enter Young Link into the tournament as well?"

Majora smiled, "I like it. Then we could hurt both of them, and then Link, even more." Ganondorf stood up from his position on the rock, "Let's get going then."

**_With the SSBM_**

As Link and Zelda left the two Marios to do some more exploring, they met up with a man in green that had a mustache like Mario, who was very red in the face.

"Um, hello. Are you in this tournament as well? I don't remember seeing you on the airplane, but I suppose I may have missed you-" started Zelda politely, before the green man went off, "Well, you didn't-a see me on the airplane because-a some of the men-a at the airport shoved-a me into a different airplane because one of the competitors took up more than one seat-a and left no room for me!"

Recalling having seen Bowser sprawled out over a row of seats, and thinking the airport workers to be too cowardly to tell him to move over, Link sympathized with the man in green, "Sorry to hear to about that. At least you made it."

The green man sighed, "Yes, I guess-a so, uh, sorry, I don't know-a your name!" The man in green put out his hand and said, "I'm Luigi." Link and Zelda then shook hands with Luigi and introduced themselves. "Well-a, I have to go find Mario now. Nice-a meeting you!" Luigi ran off down the hallway, and Link and Zelda continued along their way in the opposite direction.

"Hmmm, tomorrow should be interesting." said Link. "Tomorrow? I'm thinking about the rest of today!" exclaimed Zelda. "Who else could we run into next?"

Just then, some kind of black shadow ran down the hallway making strange computer noises with a very angry looking orange-armored person in hot pursuit. "You're going to pay for that, sausage boy!"

Shortly after, Fox and Falco appeared from around a corner of the hallway. "Hey guys! Did you see those two? Who do you thinks going to win?" questioned Fox.

Falco rolled his eyes, "Obviously Samus. I bet that girl can kick that 2D guy's butt to another planet!"

Link asked, "Who's Samus? And the 2D guy?" "Well, began Fox, "Samus is the girl in that awesome orange-colored armor, and the 2D black guy is Mr. Game and Watch."

Link still looked confused, "Um, what is 2D anyways?" "Well, it's two dimensional. Um, well, you probably don't know what a video game is, do you? Um, it pretty much means that it's more flat." explained Fox.

Link raised an eyebrow, "Flat? But how can anyone be flat?"

"He does look pretty strange. Should be easy to defeat though." said Falco.

"So," piped in Zelda, "Why is Samus chasing Mr. Game and Watch?"

Falco chuckled, "Well, we were in the dining hall having lunch, and Mr. Game and Watch came in. Samus asked him why he was, well, flat, and he didn't appreciate it. So, Mr. Game and Watch pulled out a frying pan from, well, from who knows where, and tossed sausages onto Samus. Man, was she mad!"

Zelda smiled, "Well, I hope Samus kicks Mr. Game and Watch's butt then!"

Link looked amusedly over at Zelda, then just shook his head. Zelda noticed this, "What?"

"Well, that wasn't exactly very princess like, now was it?" Zelda shrugged, "Does it really matter here?" Link smiled, "I guess not."

Falco started, "Well, I want to receive my five bucks, so let's go see who won." said Falco. Fox grinned back competitively, "Samus looks tough, but I bet Mr. Game and Watch is a good hider." "Ha, we'll see." Link and Zelda said goodbye to Fox and Falco, then headed toward the dining hall.

**_In Hyrule_**

As Ganondorf and Majora walked out of the cave, a thought came up, "Hold on. Is this Master Hand in our time period then?" asked Ganondorf.

"Majora nodded, "Indeed."

Ganondorf stopped walking, then frowned at Majora, "Then how are we going to reach him?"

Majora smiled, "Master Hand used warp pads that traveled to the same spot in order to be able to gather all of the competitors in one day. It seems to take up quite a bit of magic to use that luphira stone."

"Okay, but aren't these warp pads temporary then? Unless..." Ganondorf looked thoughtfully at Majora, who replied, "Unless I happened to place a spell on the warp pad that Link and Zelda used to keep it from disappearing so quickly."

Ganondorf grinned, "Excellent. So, where is this warp pad?"

"Down this stretch a little ways, over by the river."

After walking for over half a mile, Ganondorf spotted a strange glowing circle that lied behind a tree near the river. "That's it, then?" he asked. Majora nodded, "You first."

Ganondorf stepped onto the warp pad, then disappeared in a flash. After traveling through a swirl of colors, he was pleased to end up on his feet this time, rather than flying headfirst into a rock wall. As Ganondorf surveyed his surroundings, three simple words came out of his mouth, "What the hell...?"

Majora appeared behind Ganondorf, and looked around himself. "Welcome to the future."

Ganondorf turned around toward Majora, "Exactly _what_ year are we in?"

Majora shrugged, then looked around. Nearby, there was a group of very tan teenagers in tie-dye staring at them. Majora smiled at them, "Hello."

One of the guys that had long blonde hair spoke up, "Dude, what's with the clothes? You guys need to, like, get with the 21st century."

Some of the girls snickered. "21st century? Ah, thank you, _dude_." replied Majora politely.

The group looked at each other with raised eyebrows, then the blonde one said, "Whatever, dude." The group walked away, and, after shaking his head at this bizarre encounter, Ganondorf asked, "So, where is Master Hand then?"

"According to the letter I intercepted, we have to go to the Melee Mansion through an airplane-" "What? What is an airplane?" Majora shrugged, "I have no idea. It simply states that we have to take Master Hand's private airplane at Terminal #5 at 9:00a.m." "9:00? But it is past noon." said Ganondorf.

"Yes, so let's find a map of where the Melee Mansion is then get there through our own type of transportation." "And that would be…?" Majora smiled, "Magic. You can fly, can't you?" Ganondorf frowned, "Of course I can." "Then let us go over to the shop with strange little figurines." Ganondorf rolled his eyes, "Fine, then. I want to get moving with this thing!"

_**With the SSBM**_

"Hmmm... They have some really nice things, and, well, quite strange things as well." said Zelda as she held up a bag of chips. "Interesting."

Both Link and Zelda ended up picking some pieces of chicken and a variety of vegetables. After taking a bite, Link said, "At least the stuff we can recognize is pretty good."

Zelda nodded, then stopped abruptly as she stared at a certain part of the room. Link noticed after a bit, "What is it?" When he looked over at the same spot as Zelda, he saw a blonde woman in a very princess-like dress. In fact, she even had a crown.

"Is she a princess?" asked Link.

Zelda frowned, "She looks like one, but I've never met her before."

Link shrugged, "Maybe she's from another time period?"

At this, Zelda's frown evaporated, "Oh, yes, that must be it."

Link raised an eyebrow, "Are you supposed to know every princess near Hyrule?"

Zelda looked up from her food and nodded, "Yes, it keeps relations better. It's rude to not acknowledge another ruler." "Oh."

After awhile, when Link and Zelda had nearly finished with their meals, the "princess" spotted Zelda, stared at her for a bit, then came over.

"Um, excuse me. I don't believe we've met?"

Zelda held her hand, and shaking them with the other woman, introduced herself, "I am Princess Zelda of Hyrule." The other woman replied, "And I am Princess Peach of Mushroom Kingdom."

Before Link could introduce himself, Peach continued, "So, I've never heard of Hyrule before. Where is it?" Biting back a laugh and continuing to be polite, all the while imagining a kingdom of mushrooms, Zelda replied, "In another time period, I suppose."

Peach shrugged, "Possibly."

Link looked back and forth at the exchange, a bit perturbed. After an intense moment of silence, Peach said, "Well, it was nice meeting you _princess _Zelda, but I really should be finding my handsome Mario."

Peach then left, and right afterwards, Zelda's attitude altered completely. "Who does she think she is?" Link frowned, "What was that about?"

Zelda scowled, "I do not like that woman. She thinks that she is better than I am! At least I rule over Hylians and not mushrooms!"

"Okay, okay. Calm down. Relax and save your energy for the battles tomorrow." suggested Link. Zelda closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Yes, fine. Let's go back upstairs."

When Link and Zelda reached the bottom of the stairs, Fox and Falco came walking down the hallway, Fox looking disappointed and Falco smiling victoriously. Link smiled, "It looks like Samus won." Zelda smiled back, "I knew she'd kick that guy's butt."

_**With Ganondorf and Majora**_

It was a crystal clear, beautifully velvet blue sky, with stars shimmering and a full moon resting in the center.

Ganondorf growled, "I cannot believe it took us so long to arrive here."

Majora nodded, 'Yes, but at least we no longer have to wait for nightfall."

Ganondorf scowled at Majora, but did not reply. Both continued walking up toward a large mansion, then, with a grunt, once again lifted up into the air, and gradually made their way to a particularly large glass window toward the top. After quietly opening the window, both crept in without making any noise, closed the window, and made their way toward an enormous bed.

Majora raised his hands, then swerved them in between each other and he silently chanted. A blue mist fell upon the Master Hand, and Majora, after finishing, said, "He is now under a sleeping spell. Let's search."

Ganondorf nodded, then headed toward the nearest drawers. After searching for ten minutes, Ganondorf managed to find an impressive stone that had been locked away in a small, wooden box with flowers and ivy carved into it.

"All right, I have it. Now wake him up."

Majora repeated what he had done before with the sleeping spell, except his hand motions were backwards and a red mist fell upon the Master Hand.

"Hmmm...?" The Master Hand groggily sat up, then instantly became alert at the sign of Ganondorf and Majora. "What-?"

"Now, listen to me!" interrupted Ganondorf as he showed Master Hand the stone. Master Hand frowned, but then looked up at Ganondorf silently.

"Now, if you give us what we want, then we will give the stone back."

Ganondorf straightened up to his full height, then continued, "First of all, you will enter me into this tournament and allow me to compete along with everyone else."

Master Hand nodded, flicking his eyes from Ganondorf to the stone. "And, you will use this stone to allow my friend and I to travel back in time and pick up another competitor." Master Hand raised an eyebrow at this, and was about to speak when Ganondorf cut him off, "And so that you do not run away with the stone, my companion shall place you under a permanent sleeping spell if you do not cooperate."

Master Hand stared stonily back, and Ganondorf grinned, then, after Majora moved behind Master Hand, Ganondorf tossed the stone over to him.

"How far do you wish to go back in time?"

"As far back as possible within 17 years of my own time period." answered Ganondorf.

Master Hand closed his eyes, and a slight blue glow grew from within the luphira stone, "I can take you back 7 years, for that is all the power I currently have to do."

Ganondorf frowned a bit, but agreed, "That will have to do." A light blue portal appeared out of nowhere, and Ganondorf went through it as he heard Master Hand exclaim, "You have two hours!"

A/N: Again, thank you for the reviews. As for the characters, I believe I have mentioned all of them now in one way or another. Well, that's all for now. Please keep reviewing!


	4. Chapter 4

**Mask Madness**

**Chapter 4: Terrifying Surprises**

The sky blue color of time swirled around Ganondorf, the portal quickly speeding him to a far distant past. Finally, a distant white circle appeared at the end of this magical tunnel, and gradually grew larger. Ganondorf reached it, and flew right out of the portal onto some short green grass. The portal disappeared in a flash of blinding light, and Ganondorf slowly got back up to his feet.

After regaining his senses, Ganondorf observed his surroundings, then smiled widely, "So, the Master Hand actually managed it. I am back in Hyrule when _I_ was in full power."

Ganondorf glanced over at the dusty brown Gerudo Fortress, then turned a bit and examined the pearl white castle that stood strong and tall. However, remembering that he only had two hours to complete his task, Ganondorf turned and faced his target: the Kokori Forest.

Ganondorf left his position in the center of Hyrule Field and walked briskly toward the forest, imagining all of the amusement he was about to enjoy. He, an evil king, coming to torture a small, peaceful town of _children _who never grew up. These Kokori even possessed their own "guardian fairies", and were led by a great and wise tree, better known as the Great Deku Tree.

Ganondorf charged through the wooden tunnel and across the old bridge, and came into the Kokori Forest, frightening its few, nearby inhabitants. A small blonde girl who was dressed in attire similar to that of Link's, and rather the whole town's, had a pink fairy circling her head, and she made a silent scream as she stared up at the intruder.

As Ganondorf made to move up to her, a small group of three Kokori holding spears marched up to him, the one in front with red hair putting out his small hand and shouting, "Stop!"

Though these Kokori attempted to look strong and brave, all of them were shaking slightly in fear. The leader spoke up again, "What is your business here?"

Ganondorf replied politely, "I am here in search of a certain Kokori that goes by the name of Link."

"Link? What do you want with him?"

"I simply want to talk to him." answered Ganondorf.

The leader raised an eyebrow, "And if we let you speak to him, will you leave us alone in peace?"

Ganondorf nodded, "Of course. I do not wish to disturb you."

The leader nodded, then whispered to his blonde companion. "He will retrieve Link for you."

Ganondorf smiled, "Thank you."

As Ganondorf waited, he wondered, 'How far has Link gotten in his quest at this point? Is he a good fighter, or has he barely begun to learn?'

Soon enough, the blonde Kokori returned with a ten-year-old Link. However, when Link spotted Ganondorf, he gasped, having seen him before chasing after the Princess Zelda, when he injured Link slightly with an electric bolt. Quickly and smoothly, Link withdrew his sword and brought up his shield, going into a fighter's stance.

He scowled up at Ganondorf, and the gerudo simply rolled his eyes and chuckled, yet holding back the urge to pound the brat. He could not attack here, he told himself, otherwise the Deku Tree could interfere and cause Ganondorf to run out of time.

"Now, wait and listen. I am not here to fight you; I simply need to talk to you."

Link only deepened his scowl and did not shift out of his stance. As the surrounding Kokori watched with bated breath, Ganondorf began to lose his patience.

Seeing that Link would not be cooperating any time soon, Ganondorf quickly took a punch at the boy. Link immediately rolled out of the way, and as he did so, Ganondorf swiftly bent down and grabbed him by the ankle. He then sent a bolt of electricity through Link, causing him to scream out in pain and drop his sword.

The Kokori started to scream and run, and Ganondorf hastily picked up Link's sword, quickly making his way toward the exit of the forest. On the old bridge, Link's struggling began to become too much of an annoyance, and so Ganondorf hit Link hard on the head with the hilt of his sword, knocking the boy out cold.

Ganondorf walked through the wooden tunnel and out onto Hyrule Field. Quickly glancing up at the moon, he judged that over an hour had passed, possibly closely to two. Ganondorf walked to where he had appeared in the center of the field, then sat down and laid Link's unconscious body on the ground.

Ganondorf smirked victoriously down at the blonde boy, "I am going to certainly enjoy this."

As Ganondorf sat waiting for the portal to reappear, he wondered about how this whole time travel thing worked, 'If I'm taking this Link with me to the future, then won't this alter the future? Or, is the future already a result of this event having already occurred?' Ganondorf shook his head, then growled in frustration. He stopped pondering about the concepts of time travel and instead looked around Hyrule, remembering his time as a king.

After a few more minutes had passed, the portal appeared, and Ganondorf quickly stood up and threw Link's limp body over his shoulder. Then, with a great leap, Ganondorf jumped into the time stream itself, moving through the swirling blue color and toward the future. After only a few moments, Ganondorf arrived triumphantly in Master Hand's bedroom.

Majora grinned down at Link's body as Ganondorf laid him on the floor. "Now," Ganondorf turned toward Master Hand, "This boy will also be entered into the tournament along with me. I'll leave you to talk to him when he wakes up."

Ganondorf glanced over at Majora, "With my friend's help, of course."

Master Hand looked solemnly at Link, "Who is this, then?"

Ganondorf smirked, "It is Young Link."

Ganondorf then headed toward the door, "Well, I better be prepared for tomorrow. I'm going to my room."

Later On 

After a little over an hour, Young Link began to stir, thinking to himself and slightly muttering, 'Ugh, where am I? What happened?'

He rubbed the back of his head, and winced as his fingers brushed over a rather large bump. And with that, the most recent events of his memory came rushing back in a huge flood,

'Ganondorf attacked me! And then, he, ugh, stupid headache! Wait, he picked me up upside down, then must have knocked me out... Which means...!'

Young Link sat up abruptly, then regretted it as his head swam. However, he caught the attention of Majora and Master Hand. They looked at him, and Majora started, "You have finally woken-"

Young Link snapped his attention on the dark figure, and his eyes widened in surprise. However, his eyes quickly became thin slits as he pulled back his arm to retrieve his sword. His eyes widened once again as he grabbed nothing but thin air. He looked behind himself, saw that he was completely unarmed, then whirled around and faced Majora again, who was grinning like a madman.

Neither this look nor the current situation comforted Young Link, and so he again narrowed eyes, but held up his fists instead of reaching for his sword.

"Relax," started Majora amusedly, "I am not going to harm you."

Majora then glanced over at Master Hand expectantly, encouraging him to tell Young Link exactly what they had previously discussed. Young Link's shifted along with Majora's, then he gaped slightly at the large glove.

"Um..." started Master Hand hesitantly, "Hello, young one."

Young Link raised an eyebrow a bit, "What is going on? Where's Ganondorf?"

Master Hand sighed, "Ganondorf is not here. He brought you here to compete in a tournament that is currently taking place. My tournament, in fact."

"But...why?"

Master Hand answered, "I asked him to bring you here. I could not reach you, but desperately wanted you to compete in my tournament, for you are an excellent fighter."

Young Link looked horribly distraught and confused, "But, why does Ganondorf want me to compete then?"

Master Hand shook his head, "I do not believe Ganondorf cared whether or not you competed, but I paid him very well for his services."

Things still did not add up for Young Link, but he was starting to feel sleepy, and could not think properly, so he simply replied with a faint, "Oh." He then yawned, despite his efforts to hold back his tiredness.

Master Hand smiled slightly, "It is awfully late. Would you like to retire to your room?"

Young Link looked up at Master Hand questioningly, "My room?"

"Yes, you will stay here with the competitors."

With Young Link's focus completely concentrated on Master Hand, he did not see that the cause of his rather sudden tiredness was due to the fact that Majora was behind him quietly placing him beneath a weak sleeping spell.

Young Link nodded, his eyelids drooping. Master Hand neared the door, then looked back at Young Link, "Follow me." Like a zombie, Young Link nodded, stood up, and followed Master Hand out of the room. Remaining in the room, Majora smiled, "This should be interesting."

The Next Morning 

As the early morning sunlight trickled through the window, Link groggily opened his deep blue eyes, then sat up and stretched as he yawned widely. He then slipped out of his bed, combed his hair, pulled on his leather brown boots, threw on his green tunic and hat, admired mentioned hat in the mirror, then armed himself with his weapons and left the room.

Link walked next door to Zelda's room, then knocked lightly on her door, whispering, "Zelda? Are you awake yet?" Link heard some shuffling from behind the door, which opened soon afterwards, revealing a slightly disheveled princess.

Zelda smiled, "Hello, Link. I'm almost done; I just need to do my hair."

At this, Link glanced at her tangled hair, and then, deciding it would be a good idea to make sure Zelda was in a good mood for the up-coming battles, so that she would be more focused, he offered to do something he had only done once before, "May I brush your hair, Zelda?"

Zelda blushed a bit and nodded her head, "Of course."

She then sat down in front of a mirror, and handed Link a brush. As he gently brushed Zelda's long golden hair, he admired her beauty, and also thought amusedly, "Thank the goddesses Zelda's a morning person."

Only a little while after having thought this, the peace was slightly disturbed by the yelling of a woman from down the hall, "Mario! How dare you wake me at these hours!"

WHACK!

The woman smacked Mario with something that sounded heavy, which Mario's anguished cry seemed to agree with, "OUCH! But-a Peach! You need-a to get ready-"

BAM!

"Okay! Okay! I'll let-a you sleep!"

A door slammed, and a shuffling of footsteps could be heard nearing them from down the hall. As Mario passed Link and Zelda's doorway, he glanced in as they glanced out.

Both Link and Zelda smiled a bit hesitantly, "Um, good morning."

Mario sighed as he shook his head, "It's not-a fair. I can never tell when-a she's going to be in-a good mood in-a the morning."

Link nodded sympathetically, "Well, at least she'll be in a better mood later on."

Mario shrugged, "I hope so. She just seems to-a be in a bad-a mood since-a yesterday."

Zelda smirked slightly at this, but it then faded into a polite smile as she looked back up at Mario, "Well, we'll see you at the battle grounds later on then."

Mario nodded, then continued his way down the hall. Link and Zelda smiled at each other, then Link expressed happily, "Thanks for not giving me any nasty surprises this morning." Zelda replied, "Same here."

Zelda then looked thoughtful, "I wonder what it was that Peach hit Mario with anyways?"

Link looked slightly worried at this, "Something you would never hit me with...?"

Zelda smiled widely at him, then broke out in laughter, "Relax, Link! I was only kidding!"

Link still looked suspicious at her, but then also laughed, though more lightly. He then examined Zelda's hair with satisfaction, "All done."

Zelda replaced her tiara, and Link suggested, "Let's go have some breakfast. We shouldn't battle on an empty stomach." Zelda nodded, and they both left the room.

_**Meanwhile…**_

"Ugh..." Young Link woke up early in the morning, and while his headache had mostly subsided, it was still there and making him slightly irritable. He rubbed the back of his head, where the annoying bump still remained.

Young Link slowly sat up in bed, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes, then looked around his room. At first, he was slightly surprised to find himself in an unfamiliar room, but then remembered the previous night.

However, as he recalled this night, he began to frown, thinking to himself, 'So, this talking glove, uh, what was his name? Menace Hand? No... Wait, Master Hand. Yeah, that sounds right... So, Master Hand wanted me to compete in his tournament because, well, he didn't give me a good reason, really, he just said that he wanted me to come because I was a good fighter. Due to that, he had Ganondorf come and get me, for money...'

Young Link frowned a bit more deeply, 'But why would Ganondorf do that for money? I thought he was after Zelda, and wanted to rule Hyrule after he got possession of the triforce... This just doesn't make sense...'

Young Link gave up on trying to figure it out, and hopped out of bed. He looked in the mirror, and did his best to make himself more presentable, having slept in his clothes.

'Well,' thought Young Link, 'I suppose I should figure out exactly how this tournament works. Maybe I can find another competitor...'

With that thought in mind, Young Link opened his door, and walked out into the hallway, looking in both directions in search of another person. Not too far away, he spotted Mario, who, despite the fact that he looked a bit unhappy, looked like he might be a bit friendly.

Young Link walked up to him, examining his clothes curiously, then looked up at him, opened his mouth to ask a question, but then shut it again as he saw Mario gaping down at him.

"Mama mia."

Not understanding this, Young Link decided that this man could not speak his own language, and so simply stared back. Mario shook his head as if to dispel a hallucination he might have been having, looked back down at Young Link, smiled hesitantly, then continued to walk down the hallway, muttering to himself as he rubbed his head, "Peach must-a have hit me harder than-a I thought..."

Young Link watched Mario leave, then, deciding that the man must not be right in the head and would therefore not be able to provide any decent answers, continued down the hallway in the opposite direction. Young Link sighed as he thought about his original quest to stop Ganondorf, 'This is a waste of time! I should be in Hyrule! I'm supposed to have opened the Door of Time by now!'

He then stopped abruptly, 'Maybe that's why Ganondorf brought me here! To stop me from opening that door! Well, then I guess I'll just have to be quick about this thing!"

As Young Link thought about this possibility, he started to walk again, and this time more briskly.

"I have to find someone..."

Young Link rounded the corner of the hallway, and finally met up with some other people, but instead of being pleased and pursuing with his urgent questions, he jumped back and screamed,

"Aaaahhhhhhh!"

as the others reacted the same way, jumping back and screaming,

"Aaaaahhhhhhhh!"

Link gaped down at what appeared to be his younger self as his own eyes seemed to stare back up at him. Zelda's head moved back and forth furiously, gaping at both of them. Having already been extremely distraught, Young Link broke the short-lasting silence first,

"What the HELL is happening!"

Link sputtered, "I, well, tournament, but, you?"

Young Link then answered carefully, "Yeah, tournament...I--I'm supposed to be in it... A-- and you?"

Link nodded, "Yeah, s--same here."

They both examined each other from top to bottom, remaining silent. After a little while, Zelda finally spoke, "So, um, little Link..."

Young Link switched his intense gaze over to Zelda, and, since he had been focusing so much on his "older self", widened his eyes and gaped, "No, it can't be, but,"

He narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked over Zelda, "Princess Zelda...?"

Zelda nodded, and, to Link and Zelda's surprise, he smiled slightly, "Wow, you're beautiful..."

Zelda blushed, and Link gaped a bit, but then his cheeks turned slightly pink as he blushed ever so slightly in embarrassment. Young Link then looked back over at Link, and glanced back at Zelda. He suddenly looked a bit timid, then asked carefully, "So, um, are you two, uh, will I...?"

Zelda smiled brilliantly, "Yes, we're together."

Young Link smiled largely, "Great!"

As Young Link pondered about his future, well, observed it, Link brought everyone back to the current situation, "So," he began, "Exactly _how_ did you get here?"

Young Link frowned at this, "Ganondorf."

Zelda gasped, and Link jumped back a bit with widened eyes, "WHAT?"

Zelda looked horrified, "But, how did he escape?"

Young Link looked up at her in question, "Escaped? What from?"

Link grabbed hold of his senses, then quickly snapped his attention on Young Link, "Wait! How far have you gotten through your quest so far?"

Young Link then looked up at his older self, and became worried at the sight of the panicked expression upon Link's face, but continued to explain, "I had just received the Ocarina of Time, and was about to open the Door of Time, but I had gone to get some supplies from the Kokori Forest."

Link closed his eyes and breathed deeply, attempting to calm himself, then looked back down at Young Link, "Okay. Please tell us everything that happened from that point on."

Young Link nodded, then frowned as he recalled the events, "Well, at the Kokori Forest, one of the Kokori came and told me that there was an intruder who wished to speak to me. When I had asked why, he said that if I talked to him, then the intruder said he would leave in peace. With that, I followed the Kokori back, and I spotted the intruder."

Young Link's eyes narrowed even more, and his voice lowered in anger, "It was Ganondorf. So far, he did not seem to have done any damage, but I knew better than to trust him. I went into a fighting stance, believing that he wanted to take the Ocarina of Time from me, but he only laughed, then told me that he only wanted to talk to me. I remained in my position, knowing that this whole thing had to be a trap, and, well, it turned out I was right...

He just remained silent at first, then out of nowhere he threw a punch at me. I managed to roll out of the way, but he then grabbed me by the ankle and held me upside down. I went to slice him with my sword, but he sent a bolt of electricity through me, successfully disarming me."

Young Link paused momentarily as he fumed furiously, but continued, "The Kokori ran away, frightened at the sudden outburst, and Ganondorf left with me. I struggled, but, well, then I think he knocked me out, because I don't remember anything else after that..."

Link frowned, also furious that Ganondorf had dared to disturb his childhood home. He shook his head, then turned back toward Young Link, "What happened when you woke up? Did you just wake up here?"

Young Link shook his head, "It was really strange... I woke up in a dark room where there was a, well, a talking glove that called himself Master Hand and some other jerk..."

Link raised an eyebrow, "What did the "jerk" look like?"

Young Link shrugged, I couldn't tell. He blended in with the dark. I could only see Master Hand fairly well because he was bright white."

Link looked extremely concerned about this, but encouraged, "What happened next?"

Young Link continued, "Well, I asked about Ganondorf, and Master Hand told me that he had paid Ganondorf to bring me to this tournament thing because he "desperately" wanted me to compete."

Link frowned, "That's all?" Young Link nodded, "Yeah. I then remember feeling exhausted all of a sudden, and Master Hand took me down to a room."

Both Link and Zelda were in deep thought when Link let out in frustration, "But _how_ did Ganondorf bring you here?"

Zelda's eyes lit up and she jumped excitedly, "Dr. Mario!"

Young Link looked utterly confused at this, while Link looked thoughtful, "That time stone thing..."

Zelda nodded, "Exactly."

Link then furrowed his brow in concentration, "But, this still doesn't make sense... Why would Master Hand send Ganondorf…? Ganondorf!"

Ganondorf came down the hallway, smiling broadly, "Well, I see you've met."

At first, the group stared at him in horror, then both Link and Young Link drew their swords, and attacked in rage. "Ganondorf, you fiend!" "Ha!"

Not having expected this, Ganondorf's eyes widened, and he moved across to the handrails on the other side just in time. Both swords clanged painfully off of the metal handrails, and both Links winced. Then, thinking alike, they both took out bombs and Ganondorf's eyes once again widened as he saw them hurtling toward his face.

"Oh, sh-- !"

By hopping to the right, he managed to dodge Young Link's bomb, but he then went straight into Link's.

BOOM!

Both Link and Young Link smiled at each other, then once again turned toward Ganondorf, who was now, to Link and Young Link's pleasure, having large plumes of smoke lifting from his blackened skin. Some of the Smashers came out of their rooms, some with expressions of curiosity and others looking slightly alarmed, and Master Hand came racing down the hall.

"What was that?" He looked around at the small group. Though he seemed to be angry about the situation, Link could have sworn he saw him smirk a bit when he saw Ganondorf. "So?"

Ganondorf coughed, then spoke up, "These two attacked me, right here in the hallway!"

Having solid evidence of this staring him right in the, well, whatever he saw with, Master Hand spoke again before either of the Links could complain, "Well, that is against the rules. We need to only beat each other up in battles, all right?"

Link and Young Link nodded, and Master Hand continued, "I'll let this one go. Besides, you do not have much time! The first ever battles for this year are going to start in fifteen minutes! Now hustle!" And hustle they did, Ganondorf stalking away furiously and Link and Young Link looking happily at each other, "It was a pleasure meeting you." Young Link smiled, "Same here."

A/N: And there you have it. Everyone has finally arrived. Thank you for the reviews, especially Blissey, who's been keeping up the whole time. PLEASE review. Thank you.


	5. Chapter 5

**Mask Madness**

**Chapter 5: Let the Battle Begin!**

Down in the dome-shaped building that was off to the left of the Melee Mansion, all types of emotions were being expressed among the faces of the waiting Smashers: nervousness, anxiety, fear, anger, impatience, and, for one particularly large Smasher, relaxation. Zelda twirled a strand of her golden hair continuously, Young Link kept checking that he had all of his weapons, and Link focused his attention on Ganondorf, still thinking about why he was here, and why he had brought "Young Link" with him to this tournament.

Link's thoughts were interrupted, however, by Fox and Falco coming up to talk to their little group. "Are you guys nervous?" asked Fox.

The three of them nodded, and Zelda said, "I just, well, I'm not really sure as to what I should expect... I mean, how does all of this work exactly?"

Fox shrugged, "I'm not sure. Master Hand didn't really explain himself very well..." "

Well," began Falco, "I just wish that Master Hand would get here already. I hate this waiting."

The little group mumbled their agreement, and they all once again became silent, listening to a few Smashers whispering to each other. After a couple of more tense minutes, Master Hand finally arrived, catching everyone's attention and shouting, "Welcome, Smashers, to the first battles! Now, this is how today is going to work; I am going to randomly choose names out of this hat,"

At this, a large magician's hat appeared in Master Hand's fingers, and little scraps of paper floated lazily down inside, "Today, we are having one on one battles. Tomorrow, today's winners will compete against each other. Now, this does not necessarily mean that you are out of the tournament if you lose today. You will lose this type of competition, but there are others that will follow, such as team battles. Each winner of each competition will receive a nice first place trophy. However, the overall winner of everything in the tournament will be the ultimate champion, and so the winner of the grand prize of money mentioned in the invitations."

Master Hand looked around at all of the Smashers' expressions, seeing that this made some happier and others skeptical. Master Hand then continued, "Are there any questions?" Mario raised his hand, then asked, "What are the other types of tournaments?"

Master Hand smiled, "You will find out later on. Anyone else?" The tense group remained silent, and Master Hand continued, "Excellent. Now, let's choose the opponents for the first battle. We will do one pair at a time, so that while another battle is occurring, you will not be tempted to give your known opponent, well, disadvantages."

Master Hand then drew out a piece of paper, and called out, "Kirby, you are going to be in the first match with," Master Hand paused as he drew out another piece of paper, "Jigglypuff!"

Both poofed up and looked at each other, then they both kept poofing up more and more as if it was some sort of contest of pride. "Okay," started Master Hand, and both Kirby and Jigglypuff shrunk back down again, "go over onto to those warp pads, and then I will transfer you to a random course."

Kirby and Jigglypuff nodded, then walked onto the warp pads, both looking a bit apprehensive. "Now," Master Hand, now behind a large control panel, hit a large round red button, and a scroll of the courses came up onto the screen, then as one was selected, the computer shouted, "Pokemon Stadium!" Master Hand then pressed another switch, and both Kirby and Jigglypuff warped out of the room, but then reappeared on the screen.

Fox, Falco, and Samus looked fairly impressed, while the swordsmen and a certain princess practically had their jaws touching the floor due to the fact that they were gaping so widely. "How...?" However, as the computer shouted "Ready? Go!" and the battle began, everyone completely focused their attention on the screen.

**Match #1: Kirby Versus Jigglypuff**

Jigglypuff quickly ran across the length of the course, then aimed a punch at Kirby. Kirby simply sat there, and even Falco asked, "What is he doing...?" However, when Jigglypuff got close enough to Kirby, he opened up his mouth widely, almost his full body length, and, to everyone's surprise, Jigglypuff flew right in.

Roy gasped, "He _ate_ her!"

Everyone winced when Kirby swallowed, Peach shouting, "That can't be allowed!"

"Wait, look!" yelled Ness.

Kirby spit out Jigglypuff, who now looked slightly damp and extremely surprised.

Some of the Smashers sighed in relief, while others went, "Ewww..." Then some started to outright laugh as they caught sight of Kirby's new hair, "He's got a curl, just like Jigglypuff!"

Kirby then started to roll toward Jigglypuff, sounding A LOT like her. Jigglypuff looked outraged, believing she was being mocked, and poofed up as far as she could go.

Then, BAM! As Kirby had come rolling toward her, Jigglypuff had punched Kirby right in the stomach, sending him flying backwards.

Jigglypuff smiled in a satisfied way, but then her eyes widened when Kirby came back and slammed her with his hammer.

"Jigglypuff!"

Jigglypuff went soaring to the other side of the stage, which was now changing. Huge rocky cliffs grew out of the ground, and one managed to come up in time so that Jigglypuff slammed right into it. As Jigglypuff slid down from the enormous rock, Kirby came to the other side, ready to take her out for good, now that her percentage was high.

However, as he did, a party ball appeared and he walked up to it curiously. Jigglypuff got back up to her feet, and also walked up to the party ball curiously, though still keeping a distance from Kirby. He hit it a few times and managed to crack it open, and, to his and Jigglypuff's delight, a whole variety of foods came pouring out.

Both of their eyes widened, and they hurriedly started to eat it, though pushing and shoving and hitting each other out of the way. At one point, Jigglypuff managed to get in a good punch, sending Kirby flying back a few feet.

Enraged, Kirby came up to Jigglypuff and swung his hammer as hard as possible.

"Jigglypuff!"

Jigglypuff went soaring over the edge, but was able to catch herself and puff her way back onto the stadium. However, Kirby was waiting for her, and he again hit her with his hammer, though this time she flew out of sight screaming, "JIGGLYPUFF!"

Kirby waved happily, "Bye!" and the computer shouted, "Game!"

Both Kirby and Jigglypuff disappeared from the screen and reappeared in the room with the Smashers.

"Jiggly..."

The screen then showed the results of the battle, shouting, "And the winner is Kirby!" This was recorded, then Master Hand once again faced the Smashers.

"Excellent match. Now, Kirby, you'll be fighting tomorrow, and Jigglypuff, you can rest. But remember, you still have a chance at another competition."

Both of them left the warp pads, and Master Hand pulled out his hat again, "Now," he drew out a piece of paper, announcing, "in the second match, it is Donkey Kong against," he pulled out another paper, "Mr. Game and Watch!"

Donkey Kong stood up straighter, putting out his chest, as Mr. Game and Watch jingled his bell. "All right, onto he warp pads." said Master Hand. Both Donkey Kong and Mr. Game and Watch took their places as the computer scrolled through the courses, eventually landing on, "Flatzone!"

**Match #2: Donkey Kong Versus Mr. Game and Watch**

Donkey Kong and Mr. Game and Watch appeared on the screen, DK glancing around with a raised eyebrow and Mr. Game and Watch dancing with glee to be on his own territory.

The computer yelled out, "Ready? Go!" and DK immediately started to wind up his arm. Mr. Game and Watch came tottering over to DK, then, at a certain distance, began to toss sausages out of a frying pan. Mr. Game and Watch was successful in causing DK to not finish up powering his arm, however, he did not do any damage, as DK sat with his mouth wide open, eating the sausages...

"I wonder what those taste like?" asked Kirby.

Samus frowned, "Probably taste horrible."

When Mr. Game and Watch noticed this, he simply stared blankly at DK at first, but then went back into action. Both of them ran towards each other, and when Mr. Game and Watch got really close, he turned his head into a helmet and went to head butt DK, but he was too slow as DK threw out his arms and slammed together his enormous hands, crushing Mr. Game and Watch between them and sending him soaring to the other side of the course.

The observing Smashers winced visibly.

As Mr. Game and Watch got back up to his feet as quickly as he could, he scuttled away from the end of the course, not wanting to be easily hit out of the game. This time, he used his quickest move against the large monkey; he pulled out an old instrument that when pumped, blew out streams of air.

DK became trapped and was struggling to get back up. However, before he could completely escape, Mr. Game and Watch took out his torch and sent a flying, flaming monkey to the other side of Flatzone.

DK, who now had black smoke billowing off of him, quickly jumped back up to his feet, and furiously charged toward Mr. Game and Watch. At this time, tools began to fall from the ceiling. Mr. Game and Watch noticed this, and barely jumped out of the way of a bucket. DK was completely focused on Mr. Game and Watch in his rage, and just when he was poised to attack, a wrench smacked him on the top of his head, sending him flying off of the course entirely.

The computer shouted "Game!" and most of the Smashers, especially Samus, were simply gaping at the screen.

"He..won?"

Mr. Game and Watch came back ringing his bell victoriously as DK silently fumed. When the bell kept ringing, its owner ignoring Master Hand's attempt to recapture the Smashers' attention, DK let out a low, warning growl. Soon after, DK launched himself at Mr. Game and Watch, but the two were soon separated by Master Hand.

"Stop it, or you will be disqualified from the entire tournament!"

A tense silence rang about the room, then Master Hand continued, "Thank You. Now, remember DK, you still have a chance later on..."

The hat appeared, and Master Hand drew out a piece of paper, "The next match will be Ness versus," he dramatically pulled out another piece of paper, "Young Link!"

Young Link gulped, but then narrowed his eyes in determination. Link patted him on the shoulder and gave him an encouraging smile, and Young Link nodded back before joining Ness over on the warp pads. The computer rolled through the courses, and landed on, "Jungle Japes!"

**Match #3: Young Link Versus Ness**

Young Link and Ness both then appeared on the screen, Ness looking around curiously as Young Link smiled slightly, relieved that they had not gone to an exceedingly unfamiliar stage such as Flatzone.

The computer shouted "Ready? Go!" and Young Link tensed up immediately. As Ness ran toward him, Young Link observed him, and, feeling highly unintimidated, also ran toward Ness. They both ended up in the center of the stage, and as Young Link threw his boomerang, Ness threw out his yo-yo, which tripped up Young Link. In the end, though, the boomerang smacked Ness in the back of the head as it returned to its owner.

Smashers raised their eyebrows at this, never having thought of using kid's toys as weapons. Falco outright shouted, "You've got to be kidding me!" Link retorted, "What are you talking about? The boomerang is an excellent item!" Falco simply frowned back at Link, "Right... When we get back, I'm going to have to show you some real weapons." Link shrugged, and returned his attention back to the fight, where Ness had just hit Young Link to the far left platform with his home-run bat.

Young Link looked bewildered at this, but then narrowed his eyes and drew out his sword. He charged at Ness very quickly, and Ness only barely jumped out of the way. However, this did not faze Young Link as he simply turned his sword upward and jumped beneath Ness, making contact and sending Ness into the air.

Most of the Smashers winced, Peach exclaiming, "Ouch!" as Falco yelled, "Damn!"

As Ness came falling back down, Young Link went back up with his sword pointed upwards, and many of the Smashers cringed.

Ness again went flying as Bowser chuckled and said, "He, he, volleyball." then looked very thoughtful. The Smashers looked at him blankly, then turned their attention back to the screen.

When Ness came down this time, however, he first sent down a large star of green light, causing Young Link to jump out of the way. A party ball appeared in his place, and it instead was blown to smithereens. As Ness made his way back to the platform, Young Link picked up a gun and frowned at it, pondering, 'What kind of piece of junk is this? It's just a piece of metal!'

Falco groaned, "What is he doing? He's got an awesome gun, shoot it, SHOOT IT!"

Link looked over at him in question, "He's got a what?"

Falco gaped, then smacked his forehead, grumbling, "medieval people..."

As Young Link had wasted time observing the gun, Ness came at him quickly, and, not having enough time to bring up his sword, threw the gun at Ness, which sent him flying off of the course.

Falco gaped a bit, "Okay, guess that works too..."

The computer then shouted, "Game!" and they both reappeared in the control room.

"Well done!" said Master Hand as Link and Zelda congratulated Young Link, while Ganondorf frowned a bit. The results of the match appeared on the screen, then Master Hand again received everyone's attention as his hat appeared and he drew out two pieces of paper, "The next match will be Bowser against Mewtwo!"

Both lazily got to their feet, Bowser causing the floor to vibrate and making the Smashers have to regain their balance as Mewtwo swiftly glided. They both reached the warp pads, and the computer scrolled through the stages, coming up with, "Yoshi's Story!"

**Match #4: Mewtwo Versus Bowser**

Bowser and Mewtwo appeared on the screen, Bowser on the top platform and Mewtwo on the bottom. Immediately after the computer shouted, "Ready? Go!" Mewtwo jumped up beneath Bowser and flipped upside down, promptly smacking the koopa in the face with his long tail.

A few of the Smashers chuckled slightly as Ness laughed out loud.

Bowser roared in fury, then hopped down to Mewtwo's platform and swiftly grabbed the pokemon.

"UGH! That's horrible!" shrieked Peach as most of the other Smashers cringed slightly.

After Mewtwo backed off a bit from Bowser, the large koopa opened his mouth, where fire poured out and burned Mewtwo slightly before he managed to jump up on the above platform and out of the way.

Link blinked blankly a bit, then recalled how he had thought about this characteristic on the plane, "Well, so he can blow fire out of his mouth after all..."

A party ball appeared on the top platform, and both Mewtwo and Bowser jumped up for it. Bowser smacked Mewtwo out of the way with his humongous arm, then slashed open the party ball. A bunch of weird little creatures fell out along with an umbrella.

The Smashers looked oddly at the creatures as Bowser picked one up, and Ness cried out, "Mr. Saturn!" Some of the Smashers looked back at the boy in question, but then turned back toward the screen.

Bowser then looked over at Mewtwo, and, not sure what to do with the creature in the middle of a fight, promptly threw it at Mewtwo, who flew back a bit, having been completely surprised by this move.

Bowser laughed, then Mewtwo came back angrily, picked up Bowser, (which was followed with a "Damn, he's strong!" from Falco), then tossed him in the air and held him there as he pelted him with dark purple energy balls. After the attack, Bowser landed on the far right platform, but then jumped up, and spinned around in his shell with his spikes protruding, heading toward Mewtwo. Mewtwo was knocked off of the stage, but managed to catch himself just in time, teleporting back onto the lower platform.

Bowser grabbed the umbrella, then drifted down to Mewtwo's level as Falco commented, "And there goes a heavyweight Mary Poppins..."

Before Mewtwo had much of a chance to recover, Bowser came down and whacked him with the umbrella, this time completely sending him off of the course, his percentage having been very high.

The computer announced, "Game!" and the two Smashers reappeared in the control room. As the computer showed the results of the match, Bowser roared victoriously, scaring many of the Smashers out of their wits.

Master Hand raised his voice, "Nicely done. Now, on to the fifth match." Master Hand drew out two more pieces of paper, then, after glancing at them, announced, "We have the Ice Climbers versus Falco!"

Fox patted Falco on the back, "Go get 'em!"

Falco stood up straight, "I'm ready." He looked around, "So, who's the monster?"

The Ice Climbers came out onto the warp pads, and as Falco went over to them, he had to work really hard to not burst out laughing. 'This is too easy!' The computer scrolled through the courses and landed on, "Fountain of Dreams!"

**Match #5: Ice Climbers Versus Falco**

Falco and the Ice Climbers appeared on the screen, Falco on the bottom platform and the Ice Climbers on the top. When the computer shouted, "Ready? Go!" Falco gathered flames around himself, then propelled himself up at the Ice Climbers, setting them on fire and throwing them off of the platform.

Falco laughed a bit, and the Ice Climbers climbed to their feet with narrowed eyes. They hopped up to the top platform, then created a "blizzard" in both directions. Falco's eyes widened, noticing too late, and became frozen into an ice cube in that position.

This time the Ice Climbers laughed, and stuck out their tongue at the immobile Falco. However, after a bit, Falco broke free of the ice. With a new fire burning in his eyes, he charged the Ice Climbers at light speed, knocking them off of their feet. He stopped, then turned around to do it again, but the Ice Climbers had gotten back up and were now spinning toward him with their hammers out in front.

They smacked into him several times before he escaped. However, when he got to the other side, the Ice Climbers circled back the other way and trapped him once again.

Falco was getting frustrated, and vocal, "Ow!" SMACK "Stop" SMACK "that" SMACK "you" SMACK "little" SMACK

Falco then jumped out of target. As the Ice Climbers came to a stop, Falco had flames spring up around him, then pointed himself down at the Ice Climbers. The two went flying in opposite directions, and Falco savored his achievement with a smirk plastered upon his face.

As the Ice Climbers clambered back onto the stage, Falco focused his attention on Nana, using his light speed attack on her almost immediately after she managed to get back onto her feet. Nana went flying, then Falco faced Popo with a smirk.

The smirk soon disappeared, however, as Falco was hit with a block of ice. "Hey!" Popo was obviously furious, continuously sending blocks of ice at Falco.

Falco jumped out of the way after the second hit, landing on the far right platform. Popo followed Falco onto the platform, but only to be kicked upwards into the air. As Popo came back down, Falco again kicked him upwards, this time sending the Ice Climber completely off of the course, causing the computer to shout, "Game!"

Falco and the Ice Climbers reappeared, the former looking very pleased with himself. As Falco rejoined Fox, Fox rolled his eyes, and Falco laughed.

"Okay," started Master Hand, "Another brilliant match. Now, let's move on."

The magician's hat appeared, and Master Hand withdrew two more pieces of paper, "In the sixth match, we will have Pikachu compete against Yoshi!"

"So, a mouse against a dinosaur?" asked Fox with a confused look on his face.

Roy added, "This should be interesting."

After scrolling through the various stages, the computer landed on, "Green Greens!"

**Match #6: Pikachu Versus Yoshi**

Pikachu and Yoshi then appeared on the screen, Pikachu on the bottom and Yoshi on the top. When the computer shouted, "Ready? Go!" Pikachu raised his arms, then used thunder on Yoshi.

Yoshi streamed up into the air along with the electricity, then landed on his side, looking very frazzled. Pikachu came up to the top platform, but was unprepared for the long tongue that came lashing out at him. Yoshi then swallowed Pikachu and turned him into an egg.

Some of the Smashers gaped, while Falco said, "I'm glad my opponent didn't eat me..." and Bowser licked his lips while mumbling, "Pikachu omelett..." To the relief of the Smashers, Pikachu broke free of the egg.

Pikachu then spinned around on the ground as he let off electricity, taking Yoshi with him for a bit before sending the dinosaur flying off of the platform. The trees rustled, and large red apples fell down from them. One smacked Pikachu in the head, who then rubbed his head a bit, before smiling and picking the apple back up.

Pikachu went down to the lower platform, then threw the apple at the charging Yoshi. SMACK! "Yoshi!" Yoshi shook his head, then picked up an apple and threw it at Pikachu. SMACK! "Pika!"

Apples flew back and forth between the two Smashers, the two really going at it. SMACK! "Ow!" SMACK! "Pi!" Soon enough, both ran out of ammo, but a party ball appeared just in time.

Pikachu picked it up and tried to throw it at Yoshi, but he dodged it, so Pikachu hit it open, where a couple of poke balls fell out along with an umbrella. Yoshi came over to the items and managed to grab the umbrella, but Pikachu then sent him soaring with and electric bolt.

Pikachu opened the first poke ball, but it was only Goldeen. Yoshi came drifting back to the main platform with his umbrella, when Falco commented, "And here comes a smaller, yet still reptile version, of Mary Poppins..."

As Yoshi landed, Pikachu opened the second poke ball, which contained a... "Pikachu!"

Some of the Smashers gaped, Master Hand mumbling, "Oops" as Yoshi stood looking horrified.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu nodded his head, "Pika!" They then both turned toward Yoshi with evil smiles, and simultaneously sent off an electric bolt, which streamed toward Yoshi before he could jump out of the way, and was sent flying entirely off of the course. The second Pikachu then disappeared, his duty complete, as Pikachu waved happily, "Pika Pika!" The computer shouted, "Game!" and the two Smashers reappeared in the control room.

As the computer revealed the results of the match, Master Hand apologized, "Um, as you can see, there are still some, well, minor glitches, but I'll tend to them immediately... Besides that, spectacular match! Now, on to number seven!"

The top hat appeared, and Master Hand once again drew from it, announcing, "In this match, we will be having Mario fight against Roy!"

Marth and Roy spoke to each other in their strange language, then Roy walked over to the warp pads, where he and Mario stood confidently. The computer scrolled through the courses, and landed on, "Princess Peach's Castle!"

**Match #7: Roy Versus Mario**

The two appeared on opposite sides of the screen, and the computer shouted, "Ready? Go!" Both went for each other, jumping over the center tower. When they met in midair, Roy slashed out sideways with his sword, and hit Mario backwards.

Mario fell flat on his face on the bottom platform as Roy gracefully landed on top of the tower. Roy started to jump down toward Mario, and suddenly Mario quickly jumped to his feet and continued straight to Roy, hitting him six times in the attack, and gathering coins at the same time.

Roy then landed on his back, looking both bewildered and furious. He looked up at Mario and shouted, "Thief!" Mario shrugged, then, as he seemed to spot something, his eyes widened and he jumped down from the top of the tower and went to the opposite side of the course.

Roy raised an eyebrow at this, then looked back at what Mario had seen. Roy's eyes also widened at the sight, mumbling, "Oh, sh--!" before hurriedly jumping out of the way of a large bullet with some kind of face painted onto it. Roy hopped down next to Mario, then swiped his sword, landing a hit.

Roy then jumped with his flaming sword pointing upwards, taking Mario with him and setting him on fire. "Mama mia!" Roy could not help himself and allowed a smirk to appear on his face, though not for long, as Mario began to throw fire balls at him.

After being hit by two of them, Roy managed to jump out of the way. However, as Roy jumped up above Mario, Mario came up and once again hit Roy six times in a single attack, causing coins to appear.

Now enraged at this, Roy came charging at Mario, his sword raised high as he shouted out a battle cry. Mario looked slightly afraid at this sight, but then kicked into action by catching Roy in his tornado attack.

Roy went soaring above Mario, who was again coming up to get coins. Roy saw this coming, and so swiped his sword downward, sending Mario hard to the ground. Roy then came down to slash Mario out of the game for good, but was then surprised to find himself becoming dizzy as Mario held him by the feet and swinged him around in a circle.

Mario then let go of Roy when he reached top speed, sending the swordsman to the other side of the course, and straight into a wandering bob-omb. "Aahh!" Roy was completely blown off of the course, and the computer shouted, "Game!"

As the two Smashers returned, Mario's group cheered as Marth whispered to Roy. "Roy," said Link, walking up to the two swordsmen, "You looked pretty good out there." Roy mumbled, "I wasn't doing great... But I still might have won if it hadn't been for that stupid walking bomb." Link nodded, "Absolutely."

Before either of them could say anymore, the loud cheering that came from Mario's group died down and Master Hand spoke up, "Yet another amazing fight. Let's continue this then, shall we?"

Master Hand had his hat appear once again, and drew out two pieces of paper, "In match number eight, it is Fox versus Pichu!"

As the small pokemon appeared from within the crowd, Falco smirked over at Fox, "I don't know, Fox. Think you can handle him?"

Fox rolled his eyes, "Shut up, Falco."

Falco shrugged, "Just asking. But, just in case, good luck anyways."

Fox smiled, then turned toward the warp pads as the computer scrolled through the courses and landed on, "Great Bay!"

**Match #8: Fox Versus Pichu **

On the screen, Fox appeared on the main platform while Pichu stood upon the back of a giant turtle. The computer shouted, "Ready? Go!" and Pichu came running toward Fox swiftly, immediately sending off a small bolt of electricity that bounced along the platform and toward Fox.

Fox, however, was ready, and so lifted his shield and reflected the attack. Pichu jumped out of the way harmlessly, and continued his merry way toward his opponent. When Pichu reached him, Fox flipped over and kicked the air with feet, catching Pichu with them and sending the pokemon flying into the air.

Fox then jumped up and repeated the move in midair, sending Pichu even higher. Fox came up once again as Pichu started to fall, seemingly determined to continue his game of Pichu Ball.

However, Pichu did not want to play anymore, and this time came down with a downward electric attack. Fox was electrocuted in midair as Pichu dropped underneath him, then used his thunder attack, again shocking Fox in the sky.

Tired of playing Pichu's game of "Shock the Fox", Fox surrounded himself with flames of fire, then dive-bombed Pichu, sending him into the water. Pichu grabbed onto the edge of the far right platform, and Fox hopped down onto the left. He then took a great leap toward Pichu, who had now scrambled onto the platform and was looking at Fox curiously, and began to perform his light-speed attack.

Pichu recognized this and again hung onto the far right side of the platform. Fox came zooming to the far right platform, but did not quite make it, and ended up having to grab the edge of the platform.

Pichu then smirked a bit as he seized his chance; he let off a large bolt of electricity, and as water conducts it, Fox got hit by the electricity extremely hard.

At this, Falco, who had been watching the match a bit tensely, shouted, "Come on, Fox! Get out of there!"

Fox had let go of the platform, but when the attack finished, he managed to grab it again, heaving himself up and practically kissing the ground. Pichu quickly got to his feet, then attacked the vulnerable Fox. Fox went flying into the air, almost too high, but managed to stay within the boundaries.

As he came back down, he again had fire swirling around him as he dive-bombed Pichu, though sending the pokemon to the opposite side of the course instead of completely off of it. Though it was close.

As Pichu struggled to get back onto the stage, Fox went to open a nearby party ball that had only appeared not too long ago.

"Please have a gun!" he pleaded.

However, what came out instead was a... "Wand?" Fox frowned at this, but then turned around as Pichu hopped up on onto the main platform. As Pichu came toward him, he swinged the wand wildly, and, to his surprise, a large, yellow star came out the end of it and hit Pichu, sending the light pokemon soaring off of the course entirely.

Fox smiled down at the wand as he observed it, "Not bad..."

The computer shouted, "Game!" and the two Smashers appeared in the room. Falco punched Fox in the arm in a friendly gesture, and Link shook his head amusedly. As Pikachu comforted Pichu, Master Hand came up to the front of the room, "Nicely done, you two. Now, onto match number nine." Master Hand had his hat appear with a pop, then drew out two more pieces of paper, causing the now small pile to shrink down even more, "Luigi shall be fighting against," Master Hand frowned a bit, but the continued, "Ganondorf."

Ganondorf smirked a bit, then went over to the warp pads. Link, Young Link, and Zelda scowled at him, but he only smiled in their direction.

'Please let Luigi win,' thought Link desperately, 'though, the poor guy is probably going to be pulverized.'

When Luigi came out onto the warp pads, he looked horrified at the sight of his opponent. The computer ran through the various courses, then chose, "Battlefield!"

**Match #9: Ganondorf Versus Luigi**

Luigi started on the top platform while Ganondorf appeared underneath on the main one. The computer shouted, "Ready? Go!" and Ganondorf did not waste any time. He jumped up, grabbed Luigi, relased some dark magic, which painfully went through Luigi, then pushed himself off of the plumber and sent him harshly down to the ground, seemingly on fire.

As Luigi tried to recover, Ganondorf came up to him, then kicked frontward and backwards with his huge leg outstretched, kicking Luigi back and forth before causing him to soar off to the right platform.

Ganondorf chuckled as he came up to Luigi, but this time, Luigi fought back; Luigi jumped to his feet and rocketed himself sideways, crashing into Ganondorf and setting him on fire. Ganondorf was no longer laughing; he growled in rage, and charged for Luigi.

Ganondorf smacked Luigi in the chest, sending him across the main platform. A capsule appeared, and, as Luigi regained his footing, Ganondorf went to open it. An umbrella fell out, and Ganondorf seized.

He then used the umbrella to drift down to Luigi, as Falco, who liked to mention this particular thing, commented, "And here comes the most ugly Mary Poppins you will ever see in your entire life..."

When Ganondorf reached Luigi, he smacked him with the umbrella, sending him entirely off of the course. Ganondorf smiled as the computer shouted, "Game!" and the two Smashers returned to the control room.

Ganondorf looked at Link pointedly before returning to his original spot, while Luigi looked like he was in pain, but relieved at the same time that he had survived the match. After the results were recorded, Master Hand once again had his hat appear, though it was much emptier than before the fighting had started, and drew out two pieces of paper, announcing, "In this match, it is Peach against Dr. Mario!"

Peach and Dr. Mario looked a bit surprised at this, but then nodded and shook hands with each other respectfully. They walked over to the warp pads, and the computer landed on, "Mushroom Kingdom!"

**Match #10: Dr. Mario Versus Peach**

Peach and Dr. Mario appeared on opposite sides of the course. When the computer shouted, "Ready? Go!" Peach walked over to the main platform while Dr. Mario ran. At the edge of the far left platform, Peach took out a radish, then threw it at the charging Dr. Mario.

As Dr. Mario was thrown back, Peach daintily jumped over to the main platform. Dr. Mario then came toward her with his fist raised, and sent her soaring up into the air and nearby brick blocks.

As Peach painfully came back to the ground, something seemed to awaken inside of her, and she came charging at Dr. Mario. She jumped up, then attacked Dr. Mario with her hip, setting him on fire and causing him to bounce of off brick blocks.

Peach posed, "Sweet!" Dr. Mario came charging back at Peach, but she had been ready; she faced him and SMACK sent him flying with her tennis racket...

Link glanced over at Mario, recalling this morning, then looked over at Zelda, "Is that what she hit Mario with this morning?" Zelda frowned a bit, "I don't think so... I think it was something heavier..."

Dr. Mario came back at Peach, and caught her in his tornado attack. Peach bounced off of the brick blocks that had reappeared, then crashed back down to the main platform. Peach then quickly got up and punched Dr. Mario up into the top center brick blocks.

Right before he hit the ground, Peach kicked her leg straight up, and sent Dr. Mario soaring into the block free sky. However, he managed to stay within the boundaries and again came down to Peach, though now prepared to attack.

Though, it turned out that this attack was no match for Peach's frying pan; a loud metallic WHACK! sounded out throughout the course as Peach made contact.

Most of the Smashers winced, Link especially as Zelda exclaimed, "That was it!"

Dr. Mario went flying away into the horizon, and Peach posed as the computer shouted, "Game!"

While some of the Smashers had returned a bit bruised and singed, Dr. Mario was the first one to return with a massive headache and a case of dizziness. "Mama mia..." His group helped him come back into the room, and Master Hand again had his hat appear, and as he drew out the pieces of paper, Link tensed up as he thought, 'There are not many left now... I could be picked next... Or Zelda really... In fact, what if we end up fighting against each other?'

Master Hand then made his announcement, "In the second to last match, we have Samus competing against Marth!"

Link breathed out in relief, but then was struck with another thought as the two Smashers went up to the warp pads, "But wait... Doesn't that mean that only I and Zelda are left? Or am I forgetting someone...? But, if so, how does that work?"

Link's thoughts were interrupted as the computer announced the chosen course, "Brinstar!"

**Match #11: Marth Versus Samus**

Samus appeared on the top platform while Marth ended up underneath on the main platform. The computer shouted, "Ready? Go!" and Marth reacted instantly; springing up with his sword upwards. He performed a half circle with his sword as he struck Samus, then flipped over back down to the main platform.

Samus came down on Marth, and stretched out her arm, which acted as a flame thrower. Marth was set on fire and stumbled back a bit as Samus landed.

At this point, the stage seemed to shake a bit as the yellow acid moved higher. Samus saw this, and jumped to a higher platform. Marth, however, had only gotten the fire on his body to go out when he saw the horrible substance spilling onto the main platform.

His eyes widened, and he jumped up the far right platform, but the yellow acid rose even higher, quickly, touching Marth's foot as he tried to jump out of the way. He landed on the top platform, but then hopped on one foot as he tried to extinguish the fire on the burning foot.

Samus smiled, then smacked Marth off of the platform. He went head first into the acid, then jumped up in pain, soaring into the sky. He landed back on the top platform, but this time, he knocked Samus off.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she fell into the acid, then too came soaring up into the air while on fire. She came back onto the top platform, then both took little swipes at each other as the acid finally fell back down to a lower level.

When this occurred, Samus smacked Marth with her gun that rested on the end of her arm, and sent him flying off of the platform. Marth managed to jump up back onto the main platform, then looked up at Samus, who was in return looking back down at him.

Deciding it would be better if Samus came down to him, he started to look around aimlessly. Samus was becoming impatient when Marth a type of jelly substance that seemed to be supporting the right platform. He sliced at it with his sword, cutting through part of it. As he Samus jumping down into this platform, he smiled, and, right when she landed, cleaned through the support with his sword, causing the platform to tilt.

Samus waved her arms in surprise, attempting to regain her balance as Marth charged his sword. Samus came sliding down to him, and Marth aimed; Samus rolled up into a small ball, then flew up above him instead.

Marth's eyes widened in surprise as he stopped his attack. Samus then dropped a small bomb onto him, causing him to shield his eyes. As he looked up, he knew it was too late; Samus came charging toward him and struck him with her gun, sending him flying off of the course. Marth went past the boundary lines, and the computer shouted, "Game!"

Samus went off to one side of the control room as a very frazzled Marth rejoined Roy. Link barely saw this as he was completely focused on what was going to happen next, 'I can't fight Zelda...'

Master Hand came up to them, had his hat appear, then drew out two more names, "In today's last match, Link will be fighting against Captain Falcon!"

Link looked at Master Hand blankly at first, but then sighed in relief. However, remembering that he had a fight coming up, he steeled himself. Zelda and Young Link wished him good luck, then he headed over to the warp pads, looking for who his opponent was.

When Captain Falcon showed up, Link frowned at the tight-shirted man, who in turn winked at him. Link, now disgusted, looked over at the computer screen as it landed on, "Mute City!"

**Match #12: Link Versus Captain Falcon**

Both Smashers appeared on opposite ends of a single, small, moving platform. Link looked down past the platform in bewilderment, observing the speeding cars below. Though he recognized that the cars were a smaller, faster version of the bus he had ridden to the mansion, he did not recognize the roadway at all. He knew that Captain Falcon must have, however, as he happily went, "Oh yeah!"

When the computer shouted, "Ready? Go!" Link steeled himself for the current match. Captain Falcon jumped toward Link, then fire swirled around him as he charged him. Link saw this, and so jumped out of the way and to the opposite side of the platform, landing behind Captain Falcon.

As "Falcon Punch!" was heard, fire went everywhere, and Captain Falcon tried to turn around quickly afterwards, but as he did, a bomb was heading toward him, and it blew up right in his face.

Zelda and Young Link cheered, receiving various looks from the other Smashers, though most were smiling slightly with a few rolling their eyes.

Captain Falcon got back up to his feet, and this time tried a faster attack, throwing quick jabs at Link. Link received a few of them, but then managed to jump out of the way. The platform lowered itself into the road, where there were two more, smaller platforms above it.

Link came at Captain Falcon swinging his sword in huge arcs, landing two smash attacks. As Link made his way toward Captain Falcon, he stopped abruptly as his ears perked up.

'What is that sound...?" he thought.

He soon found the source as several cars came speeding his way. Link's eyes widened slightly, but he quickly acted and jumped to safety on the far right platform. Captain Falcon was not as lucky, however, as the cars smacked into him, sending him into the air. He landed hard on the left platform, but then quickly jumped up onto his feet.

The two platforms dissolved as the main platform reappeared, both Smashers jumping onto it. Captain Falcon lifted his leg high in the air, which was shaking a bit.

Falco laughed a bit at this, "Is there an indivisible fire hydrant there or something?"

Link looked at Captain Falcon oddly, but then got an idea: he took a bomb, then threw it underneath Captain Falcon's raised leg. Captain Falcon saw this coming too late, as Link had been very close and almost in range for his own attack. The bomb exploded, and Captain Falcon cringed, as did the observing Smashers.

Even Link winced a bit, giving Captain Falcon some room as he tried to walk. With tears of pain in his eyes, Captain Falcon charged Link, who had been starting to feel slightly guilty, and managed to land a "Falcon punch!" on the surprised Link.

Link went flying off of the platform, and barely managed to grab the edge as they soared extremely high over the raceway. Captain Falcon met up with him, and immediately after Link climbed back up onto the platform, he smacked him right back off.

Link managed to catch himself, then, instead of grabbing for the edge, he spinned around very quickly with his sword, propelling himself upward toward Captain Falcon and cutting him in the end.

Captain Falcon was thrown back off of the platform, but grabbed the edge and scrambled back on as Link landed in the center. When Captain Falcon went to punch Link, Link retaliated with a swift, powerful swipe of his sword. Captain Falcon went flying off of the platform and left the course completely as the computer shouted, "Game!"

The two Smashers appeared in the control room, then went their separate ways. Master Hand quickly announced, "Excellent matches today, everyone!"

Zelda frowned a bit, then raised her hand, "Um, excuse me, but I have not battled today!"

Master Hand blinked at her stupidly, then scanned the room as he counted everyone, "Twenty-five... Oh." Master Hand looked awkward, but then continued, "All right, how about this. If you can destroy all of the targets within a certain amount of time, and on your first try, then you can continue on tomorrow."

Zelda nodded, then went over to the warp pads. Master Hand fiddled with the computer a bit, then Zelda appeared on a small platform on the screen. After jumping onto other platforms, Zelda destroyed four targets. Then, from where she started, she teleported up and hit another target. She then finished the course in that fashion, managing to pass all of the requirements.

She reappeared in the control room, and Master Hand exclaimed, "Nicely done!" Zelda went over to Link, "That was pretty easy." Master Hand then continued, "Okay, here are the results everyone." On the screen were displayed the winners of today's battle: Kirby, Mr. Game and Watch, Young Link, Bowser, Falco, Pikachu, Mario, Fox, Ganondorf, Peach, Samus, and Link. "Now, I'll see the winners here tomorrow, same time, same place. Enjoy the rest of your day!"

Everyone started to talk almost immediately as they left the room, discussing all of the various battles. "Hey!" called Falco, joining up with Link, Zelda, and Young Link. "So, what-" Falco was interrupted by a large growling sound. Everyone looked at Fox, who replied, "Okay, so I'm a bit hungry." Falco laughed, "Yeah, me too. Let's get some grub, then talk over the matches. Everyone nodded, then trudged off toward the cafeteria with everyone else. That is, except for Ganondorf, who glanced around before heading off in his own direction.

A/N: Wow, this chapter turned out to be much longer than I had planned on. Nevertheless, I hope everyone enjoyed it. And of course, thanks for the reviews! And lightpaladin, Majora works more in the background of everything, and is not in the tournament, but he will be making an appearance later on. And who knows? He _may_ be involved in a battle later on… Well, I'll leave you with that. Please, please review!


	6. Chapter 6

**Mask Madness**

**Chapter 6: Masks Galore**

As Falco gave a retelling of his battle, showing how well he had done, Fox rolled his eyes, "Yes, okay, well done, you managed to beat up two little kids."

Falco blanched, "Excuse me? Look who's talking! Mr. I beat up a little yellow mouse!"

Fox then retaliated, "Yeah, a mouse that gives off electricity! And a lot of it too!"

Falco cut in, "Oh yeah? Well, why don't you try taking on _two_ opponents at one time!"

From another table over, the two heard someone clear their throat. Fox and Falco looked over to see both the Ice Climbers and Pichu frowning at them. They both smiled back a bit hesitantly, Fox apologising, "Yeah, um, sorry about that... We just get a "little" competitive sometimes..."

They then turned back around, once again facing Link and Zelda. Falco began, "Well, Link, you had a pretty good battle, didn't you?"

Captain Falcon walked by, slightly limping, and scowled at Link before heading over to the buffet. Link smiled hesitantly back at Falco, "Um, sort of, I suppose..."

"Well, no matter. We've all made it to the next round, haven't we?"

Zelda frowned a bit, "Yeah, but I hope I actually get to battle against someone else next time."

Fox looked a bit thoughtful, "Yeah, that was a bit strange, wasn't it?"

Falco nodded, "Especially since he went through so much trouble to get us here. You'd think he would have counted us to make sure it was an even number."

Young Link frowned at this, "You're telling me."

Fox and Falco looked at Young Link curiously, "How is it that Master Hand managed to bring two Links together like this?"

Young Link muttered, "Ganondorf." as Link said, "The luphira stone." Falco looked confused, "Wait. Say what?"

Link sighed, then decided to go ahead and explain so that Fox and Falco could be wary of Ganondorf, "Master Hand has a luphira stone, which allows him to time travel."

Fox and Falco gaped a bit, and Link continued, "Then he sent Ganondorf to pick up Young Link."

Falco frowned, "But, why?"

Link shrugged, "That's what I'm trying to figure out."

Young Link perked up at this, "I was thinking that maybe Ganondorf wanted me to be here so that I could not finish my quest."

Fox raised an eyebrow, "Quest?"

Link nodded, "Yes, a quest that would result in Ganondorf being locked up in the Sacred Realm."

"Huh. Well, I'd say that's a pretty good reason." said Falco as Young Link exclaimed, "Wait! He escaped from what?"

Link smiled down at his younger self, "The Sacred Realm."

Young Link frowned at this, "But..."

Zelda then spoke up, "Did Ganondorf actually escape the Sacred Realm?"

Link looked bewildered at this question, "You know, you have a good point there. We may be dealing with the Ganondorf from Young Link's time... But then, how did Master Hand reach Ganondorf? This just does not add up..."

Zelda sighed, "We need more information."

Link nodded, "Yeah. But for now, let's go relax a bit. Who knows? Maybe we will find something."

Link, Zelda, and Young Link then waved good-bye to Fox and Falco, and headed upstairs.

**_Ganondorf and Majora_**

"Well?" As Ganondorf entered Master Hand's bedroom, he looked up into Majora's inquiring face, "Link fights as well as ever, and Young Link is not bad himself."

"I take it that they both moved on then?" asked Majora.

Ganondorf nodded, and Majora frowned, "How are the matches set up?"

"Master Hand randomly chooses names from a hat."

Majora raised an eyebrow, "That's it? Well, this should be easy enough. Where's the hat?"

Ganondorf frowned, "He makes it appear out of thin air. There is no way to tamper with it."

Majora scowled, "What are the odds of you fighting Young Link tomorrow?" "One in thirteen." Majora let out a low, inhuman growl, "That's not good at all! We need to do something..."

Ganonforf raised an eyebrow, "As in get rid of some of the competition?"

Majora nodded slightly as he narrowed his eyes, "They are impressive fighters, then? You don't think you could sneak up on them and kill them in the middle of the night?"

Ganondorf snorted, "I don't work that way. Besides, I am far too huge for something such as that."

Majora's expression grew more thoughtful still, "Then how could we cause them to be affected by a harmful item?" Majora paced a bit, frowning, until he suddenly stopped, "Wait... How could I have forgotten?"

Majora reached behind himself and pulled out a brown, leather bag. He opened it, then reached inside with his grotesque hand, pulling out the bunny hood and smiling horrendously, stroking it seemingly affectionately, "Yes..."

Ganondorf, however, did not look impressed at all. "So you are going to make that thing attatch to one of the competitor's heads, then make them forfeit through embarrassment? Yes, sure, _that_ should do the job much better than any fatal poison."

Majora growled in fury, "SILENCE! How dare you insult my precious artifacts!"

Ganondorf backed up a bit, but then scowled at Majora, now thinking him to be crazy, "What the hell makes that bunny hood so marvelous?"

Majora looked over at Ganondorf gradually, still holding up the bunny hood, which's ears flopped slightly at the movement, "Normally, this hood grants its wearer the ability to move much more quickly. However, I have cursed it to work in the opposite."

Ganondorf smiled slightly at this, "So the competitor will not be able to compete." However, as another thought came up, Ganondorf frowned a bit, "But then why not simply give this item to Link?"

Majora sighed, "Because Link knows all about these masks, and so will be suspicious."

"What about Young Link, though?" Majora scowled deeply, "While it was the older Link who had defeated you, it was Young Link who had defeated me."

Smirking a bit, Ganondorf commented, "So the little brat was too much for you?"

Majora looked furious, "He had help, remember?" He shoved the bunny hood in Ganondorf's face, "With these!"

"Yes, of course I remember. What are the other masks?"

Majora still scowled at Ganondorf, but then opened his sack wider and poured several of the masks onto Master Hand's bed, first pointing to a mask that represented a mummy's head. Now, let me explain to you how these different masks work..."

**_Morning_**

As the sunlight poured through the window and landed upon Link's face, he began to stir. He sat up in bed, and stretched and yawned widely. He then hopped out and quickly threw on his usual tunic. Seeing that Zelda's bedroom door was open, he walked in and greeted Young Link and Zelda. Link kissed Zelda before sitting next to her on the bed, and Young Link rolled his eyes.

"You wait--"

"Aaaaahhhhhhhhh! There's a mummy in the hallway! A FREAKIN' MUMMY IN THE HALLWAY!"

All three quickly jumped to their feet, then went into the hallway. Falco came streaking past, wearing some kind of strange mummy mask. Soon after, a mummy came moaning down the hallway, arms stretched out in front of it as it walked awkwardly.

As Zelda and Young Link gaped, Link paled, "No... It can't be..."

These thoughts were interrupted as Fox then came flying down the hallway wearing some kind of bird mask, also being chased by something, except instead of a mummy, he was being attacked by, "CHICKENS! GET OFF OF ME! OUCH!" A chicken flew up and nipped Fox's leg, closely followed by several others.

As Fox continued down the hallway, he ran into the mummy. His eyes widened, and he quickly skidded to a stop, then turned down the hallway in the direction he had just come from, yelling, "MUMMY!

As Fox came streaking past them once again, Mr. Game and Watch came down the hallway, making computer noises all the way. However, instead of being a solid black that made him difficult to spot at times, he was now striped with all the colors of the rainbow, besides the stone mask that lied upon his face, which was a plain dark brown.

Young Link and Zelda looked at each other, then at Link's pale face. Zelda looked concerned instantly, "Link, what's--"

BOOM! "Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" "Mama mia!"

When they looked down the hallway, they saw smoke billowing out of a rather large hole in the bedroom wall.

"Mario! Get it off of me!"

"I'm a-trying!"

Link took off down the hallway, followed by a confused Young Link and Zelda, and entered Mario's room. "What happened?"

Peach screeched as she pulled furiously at the bomb shaped mask on her face, and Mario answered hastily, "She woke-a up with a present at-a the foot of her bed, saying it was-a from Master Hand and that it-a was to be used in today's match! But when-a she put it on, this-a mask went off-a like a bomb, and we don't-a know why!"

Link whipped out his ocarina, and Peach screeched, pulling at her slightly blackened hair, "Why are you going to play music? Try to do something helpful!"

Link frowned, "This might help. It did before, anyways..."

Zelda raised an eyebrow, "Before...?"

"Well, then play it already! I don't want this thing--" BOOM!

Everyone was thrown back, now coughing as they got back up to their feet, "Hurry already!" shouted Peach.

Link picked up his ocarina, then began to play the Song of Healing. Everyone suddenly felt calm, even the frazzled Peach, as the song worked its magic. It was like floating through the clouds, without a worry in the world. The magical notes stopped playing abruptly, and everyone snapped up in alarm.

"What-- Link!" Link was now slumped up against the bed with his eyes closed. Zelda knelt down next to him, shaking him gently, "Link, wake up!"

Link groaned, then gradually opened his eyes, "What...?"

"Link, are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'm fine... But why am I on the ground?"

"I think it was that song." answered Zelda.

Link looked confused, "What? But how..." He looked up at Peach, then frowned, "Why didn't it work... These must be the masks from Termina..." Link slowly got to his feet with Zelda's support, and looked out into the hallway through the hole in the wall.

To his surprise, one of the competitors were running down the hallway, but in slow motion, like the lifeguards on Baywatch, except it was Bowser with flopping bunny ears on his head. With every step he took, the floor vibrated, though also seemingly in slow motion.

Everyone snickered a bit, even the frazzled Peach. As everyone looked around at each other in slight relief, BOOM!

"Aaahhh!" Peach yelled, now with a fair amount of smoke pouring off of her, "What are we going to do about this?"

Everyone else groaned as they once again regained their footing, Link swaying a bit before catching himself on the bed. "Shouldn't we go see Master Hand? The mask was from him after all..." suggested Young Link. Link groaned, "Might as well..."

"But where is he?" asked Zelda. Link shrugged, "Let's check on the others in the dining room."

As the small group made their way down the hall, and turned around the far corner, they heard some rather strange music emitting from one of the rooms. Though Link recognized it... When they peered into the bedroom, they saw Samus with some sort of strange, slightly inhuman, grey-faced mask on. She was dancing oddly to the unique music, and upon seeing them, shouted, "I can't stop!"

"We are-a going to find-a out what-a is going on. We'll be-a back!" shouted Mario hurriedly.

They then headed down the stairs and entered the dining room, where almost everyone was huddled up into one group. "What is with these masks?" asked Marth. "And what about today's battles? Most of the competitors are unable to fight!"

With this, Kirby came in looking miserable. He was wearing a kind of pig mask, and his face was scrunched up as if he was smelling something horrid. His stomach growled, and he went over to pick up some food, a delicious donut, but ended up setting it back down, gagging.

"There's only five minutes left until the battles begin." "Let's go see what Master Hand has to say about this!" perked up Ness.

The large group of Smashers practically marched down to the dome-shaped building, then waited impatiently inside. Falco showed up a little later, and came up to Link, "Do you have any idea what is up with these masks? This is crazy!"

Link frowned, "Where's the Gibdo, er, mummy?"

Falco smiled slightly, "I locked it up in a closet. Sure did scare me this morning though. That is _not_ something you like to face in the early morning! The stupid thing appeared out of thin air!"

Link shrugged tiredly, "I have no idea how this is all happening..."

There was some moaning, and everyone screamed as a mummy appeared out of thin air, right next to Falco, who jumped about five feet high, "Damn it!" Everyone backed away from the mummy as it chased Falco out of the building, who was cussing the whole way.

Master Hand appeared in the room, and was greeting everyone amiably when someone shouted, "What the hell is going on?" Master Hand looked at Captain Falcon in confusion, "What?"

"What's - with - these - masks - you - sent - us?" asked Bowser, talking very slowly.

"Masks?" Master Hand looked over at Ganondorf, who smiled in return. Understanding immediately, Master Hand began, "Well, I am not sure where these masks came from, but I assure you that I did not send them. It must be a joke or something."

"A joke?" screeched Peach furiously.

"Well," Master Hand raised his voice over all of the shouting, "whatever it is, the battles must commence."

"But most of the fighters are unable to compete because of these masks!"

Master Hand looked over at Ganondorf, and received his answer, "I am extremely sorry, but we must continue with the schedule. If those who can battle would please step up." "But--!" "Anymore arguing, and I will disqualify you from this entire tournament."

The Smashers silenced instantly, though they still frowned. Link, Zelda, Young Link, Ganondorf, Pikachu, and Mario all stepped up. "Thank you." The top hat appeared in Master Hand's fingers, and he randomly pulled out a slip of paper, "First, it is Young Link against Pikachu."

Both stepped up to the transporters, and the computer scrolled through the courses, landing on, "Mushroom Kingdom II!"

**Match 1: Pikachu Versus Young Link**

Both Young Link and Pikachu appeared on the screen, and immediately after the computer shouted, "Ready? Go!"

Pikachu charged Young Link, head butting him in the side. Young Link fell back a bit, but managed to land on his feet. Pikachu shot bouncing electric bolts his way, but he jumped over them, then came down and side swiped Pikachu with his sword.

"Pika!" Pikachu fell back a bit, then landed on a flying carpet above. Young Link jumped with his sword pointed upwards, landing in a decent hit as Pikachu fell off of the carpet. When Pikachu jumped onto the left side platform, a strange, almost feminine yoshi looking creature appeared, also known as Birdo, and started shooting eggs.

Pikachu was pelted with one of the eggs, then tuned around and attacked Birdo in retaliation. "Pikachu!"

Young Link hopped up onto the platform, ready to strike, when Pikachu suddenly turned around and sent out an electric bolt. Young Link flew off of the platform and only barely managed to catch himself on the left side of the main platform. As Young Link pulled himself up, Pikachu continued to beat up Birdo, and a party ball appeared over the center platform.

As Link went to open it, Birdo went sailing across the screen, and Pikachu came over to Young Link. They stood side by side, pushing each other around a little bit, preparing to grab the items, when... BOOM!

Peach jumped a bit at the familiar noise, but then sighed in relief when she realized it was from the fight. However, thinking about how the mask could go off at any time, she quickly left the building.

Bomb-ombs fell down everywhere, and the two fighters' movements set them all off, sending both of them soaring to the sides of the screen, screaming the entire way. Then, the computer shouted, "Game!" and revealed the results to be... a tie?

When Pikachu and Young Link reappeared in the room, they looked at the results quickly, then frowned up at Master Hand, who was looking bewildered, "A tie...? The odds of that happening were so slim... Haven't considered it a true possibility to be honest..."

Young Link asked, "So, what does this mean...? Do Pikachu and I both win, or do we both lose?"

Master Hand looked thoughtful, "Hmmm... Well, I think we need to keep this tournament moving..." Pikachu looked angry, "Pika! Pika pi!"

"That's not fair, though." said Roy.

Master Hand replied, "I'm sorry, but... Well, what if I added a new feature for when this happens next time? A "Sudden Death" type of thing?"

The Smashers mumbled in agreement, and Master Hand continued, "Excellent! Let's move on--"

"But--"

"_Moving_ on," said Master Hand more loudly, who then snatched his hat out of midair and pulled out two pieces of paper, with many Smashers frowning at him, including Ganondorf, "In our next match, we will have Zelda," Zelda perked up a bit in anticipation, "fight against Ganondorf!"

Zelda's shoulders drooped, and her face paled. Link looked horrified. As Link looked over at Ganondorf, the gerudo smirked back, walking up to the transporter. Link patted Zelda on the back, and whispered in her ear. Zelda nodded, then narrowed her eyes and took her place beside Ganondorf.

The computer scrolled through the stages, and landed on, "Battlefield!"

**Match 2: Zelda Versus Ganondorf**

Ganondorf appeared on the top platform, while Zelda ended up on the main platform. The computer shouted "Ready? Go!" Ganondorf chuckled a bit, thinking of how to beat up the princess in the most painful way.

Before he knew it, though, he was on fire. Zelda sprang into action and jumped up beneath Ganondorf with her arm raised, flames of fire bursting out when she came close enough to her target. Ganondorf yelled in fury, and Zelda tensed up, preparing for the worst, though a bit proud of herself at the same time...

Ganondorf came charging at Zelda like a bull, and raised his arm quickly, punching Zelda hard in the stomach. She flew across the platform and landed hard, wincing a bit as she got up.

Both Link and Young Link flinched, and Link hoped dearly that Zelda did not become too badly injured.

Ganondorf laughed madly, his cape swirling behind him, "Do you really think you have a chance against _me_?"

Zelda narrowed her eyes, then placed her arm out straight, using Din's Fire to send a small ball of fire soaring toward Ganondorf. When it reached him, Zelda let go of it, and Ganondorf was once again engulfed in flames.

Ganondorf shouted in anger, "Damn it! That's enough!"

Ganondorf came rushing toward Zelda, his arm raised, but to his immense surprise, he found himself lifted off of the ground by some kind of invisible force. Eyes narrowed in concentration, Zelda threw Ganondorf to the ground below her, then shocked him in a swirling pool of magic. Ganondorf slid across the platform, then quickly regained his footing and performed a sliding kick powered by dark magic, striking Zelda and sending her into the air.

Ganondorf jumped up onto the right platform, prepared to attack the falling Zelda, who, surprisingly, seemed to be aiming toward him... As Ganondorf raised his leg, Zelda suddenly struck out with both of her feet, made contact and sent Ganondorf soaring across to the left platform.

Zelda jumped up to the top platform, and Ganondorf quickly got to his feet, then kicked upwards and sent Zelda into the air once more. Zelda barely managed to stay within the boundary lines, and as she fell back down to the platform, toward Ganondorf, she performed a spectacular move: she threw up her arms, and magic swirled around her as she became, somehow, a male Sheikah known as Sheik.

Sheik came down with his foot, and kicked Ganondorf hard in the face. Ganondorf landed on his back, but then quickly got up. He grabbed Sheik and threw him down onto the main platform, and as he jumped down, the sheikah groaned and got back up to his feet. He quickly backed away from Ganondorf, but Ganondorf ran after him.

Going into a swift kick along the platform, Ganondorf slammed right into Sheik, sending him yelling from the course. The computer shouted, "Game!" and both Ganondorf and Zelda appeared in the control room.

Ganondorf walked over to his usual spot on the wall, looking only slightly satisfied as Zelda walked over to Link, bruised up and obviously sore. Zelda leaned heavily on Link, who had to struggle a bit to regain his balance, and said, "I lost..."

Link replied, smiling slightly, "That's fine. As long as you are okay... Which you are, right?"

Zelda nodded slightly, "I'll be fine... Just really sore..."

Link frowned, "You can go rest if you like."

Zelda shook her head, then stood up straight, "No, I want to watch you battle."

Link looked concerned, but did not argue, as Master Hand had just drawn out two pieces of paper, though the next match was already known, "For today's last match, we will have Mario fighting against Link."

Link looked over at Zelda and Young Link, then walked over to the transporters. The computer scrolled through the various arenas, then landed on, "Kongo Jungle!"

**Match 3: Link Versus Mario**

Link appeared on the far right, top platform while Mario showed up on the top left. The computer shouted, "Ready? Go!" Link and Mario jumped toward each other and met up in midair.

As Mario went to punch Link, Link slashed out with his sword. Link barely landed his hit first, receiving a tiny bit of Mario's punch before sending him crashing down to the main platform. Link landed on the lower left platform, then quickly regained his footing, though he was a little less graceful than usual.

Link jumped down to the main platform, and quickly met up with a fireball. Link quickly jumped back up onto the platform, avoiding the second fireball. As the fire went out, Mario jumped up underneath Link with his fist raised in the air. A few coins went lose into the air as Link landed hard on his back on the above platform.

Young Link frowned at the screen, "Why is he not fighting very well...?" Zelda looked concerned, but remained silent.

As Mario landed next to Link, Link rolled into a kneeling position and jabbed his sword at Mario's feet, causing the plumber to jump back with a yelp. Link stood up, then slashed his sword at Mario, landing in a fairly strong hit.

Mario went soaring off of the platform and landed on the main one below. Link quickly came down after him, his sword pointing down and aimed at Mario, but only landed in the wooden log as Mario rolled out of harm's way.

Before Link could completely recover, Mario caught him with a weak punch, which was then followed with several, quick punches and kicks that made it difficult for Link to back out of. Eventually, he managed to smack Mario's feet with sword, causing the attacks to stop.

Link then swinged his sword behind himself, and spinned around with his sword stretched out, creating an amazing ring of color. When Mario was hit, he was sent off of the platform, but managed to grab onto a small boulder.

Mario struggled onto the rock as Link pulled back on his arrow on his bow, and when Mario jumped up onto the main platform, he saw the arrow come flying toward him, but managed to barely block it.

Link then threw his boomerang at Mario, which was also blocked. Link then threw a bomb at Mario, which was, surprisingly, caught. Mario threw back the bomb at the shocked Link, causing it to explode.

When the smoke cleared, Link saw Mario running toward him, he frowned and decided on a new action; he lashed out his hookshot, sending the chain hurtling at the charging plumber, whose eyes widened as he shouted, "Mama mia!" Link caught Mario on the end of the chain, then reeled him in like a fish.

Link then threw Mario on the ground before body slamming him. Afterwards, Link slashed Mario with his sword, pushing him back a bit, then again created a flashing circle as he spinned around with his sword outstretched, sending Mario soaring off of the platform, and out of the arena entirely. The computer shouted, "Game!" and Mario and Link reappeared in the control room.

As Mario walked over to Luigi, Link made his way toward Zelda and Young Link. He smiled at them tiredly, while they smiled a bit hesitantly back at him.

Link raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

"Well," started Young Link, "You did not seem to be fighting at 100 today."

Link shrugged, "Yeah, but I'm probably just having an off day."

This time, Zelda raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure, Link? You looked tired before the fight even began."

Link smiled, "Don't worry, I'm fine. I think it was just from when I tried to play that song earlier."

"On that matter, what is it that you know--"

Master Hand spoke up, concluding the matches, but Mario yelled out, "Wait! What-a about all of those-a masks? How is Peach-a supposed to sleep if-a she keeps exploding randomly all night-a?"

Master Hand frowned, "As I said earlier, I have no idea what these masks are about. If they are still around tomorrow, then I will look into it further. However, if it is a prank, it should stop by then."

Before anyone else could argue, Master Hand left the building, then floated up to the mansion. Zelda looked over at Link expectedly, who sighed in return, "Let's go upstairs, and I'll tell you what I know about these masks..."

As Link, Zelda, and Young Link walked back up to the mansion, they passed by a tree full of chickens, which were being pointed and laughed at by Fox, who had bits of fur missing here and there.

A/N: Sorry for the delay. Sports are starting up a bit more, and a few other things popped up. Thanks for the review. I would be really happy if more people reviewed, though! Well, until next time.


	7. Chapter 7

**Mask Madness**

**Chapter 7: Majora's Mask**

Ganondorf stepped into the dark room, the door creaking shut behind him. Majora appeared, and peered down on the gerudo, "Well? Have my masks caused enough trouble?"

He smiled wickedly, and Ganondorf held back a groan as he replied, also smiling, though only slightly, "Your masks have been very successful. However, the matches did not turn out as planned."

Majora frowned, "How so?"

"Well," began Ganondorf, "to begin with, I did not end up fighting Young Link. Rather, I fought against Princess Zelda."

"And did you win?"

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow at Majora, "Do you doubt my abilities that much?"

Majora looked at Ganondorf with a straight face, "It was simply a question."

Ganondorf muttered, but then continued, "While I am continuing on to the next round, Young Link is not." Majora scowled deeply, "What...?" "He and Pikachu tied in their match." "How the hell did they tie?" "Bombs sent them both off of the course at the same time."

Majora looked extremely displeased, "This is not working."

Ganondorf replied, "No, but I did notice something else today."

Majora looked over at Ganondorf, and the gerudo continued, "Link did not seem to be his usual self today." "In what way?" "He did not fight as well. In fact, he looked a bit weak."

Majora shifted his eyes to a wall, as if looking for an answer, "Was he the only one?"

Ganondorf nodded, "It seemed that way."

Majora continued to stare at the wall, remaining silent. Ganondorf watched him closely, waiting for a reaction. After only a few seconds had passed, Majora smiled, "Link probably attempted to remove one of the masks. Back in Termina, he did this by playing the Song of Healing. However, by playing the song on the cursed masks, the song did not perform it's usual duties of, say, 'bringing the victim back to their own life', but rather worked in reverse and tried to take away some of the life of the player."

Ganondorf frowned, "So you are saying that by playing that song, Link lost some of his life? But how--"

"Well," interrupted Majora, "maybe not actually some of his life, but some of his energy at any rate."

"How long will this last for? Through tomorrow at least?" asked Ganondorf. Majora shook his head, "If Link receives enough sleep tonight, he should recover almost all of his strength."

Ganondorf swore, and Majora looked at him in question, "What? Why does this matter so much? You cannot attack him out of the clear blue." Ganondorf, out of frustration, shouted, "Why not?" "Keep your head, Ganondorf. If you attack him, you will not only be disqualified from the tournament, but the other fighters will attack you in return, accomplishing nothing."

Ganondorf muttered, "Well, what about the match then?" "What match? Who are you fighting tomorrow?" Ganondorf frowned, "I'm fighting against Link! Don't you think that we should take advantage of this somehow? We could injure him greatly..."

Majora frowned, "Why only injure him? Why only weaken him? Why don't we kill him!" Ganondorf frowned, then raised an eyebrow, "How do you mean 'we'?" "I'll come with you." "How?" "I'll reside in my mask, then I can come out when the time is right in the battle."

Ganondorf scowled, "But, I thought you had wanted to make the boy suffer before killing him?" "We won't kill him instantly! Think about it; we will all be trapped in that _world_, and we will have all the time we like." While Majora looked rather pleased with this idea, Ganondorf frowned a bit, but then quickly began to smile along with Majora, "It is set then." Majora chuckled hoarsely, "Yes, let's choose some items to make this occasion all the more enjoyable."

_**Link and Co.**_

Link sat in one of the chairs of Zelda's room, thinking on how exactly to explain the story. Young Link sat in the other chair on his right side, while Zelda sat on the end of her bed straight across from him.

Both stared at Link like a hawk, and he finally began, "Well, I suppose it starts out with the meeting of Skull Kid..." Link explained how the Skull Kid stole the ocarina and Epona from him, then turned him into a Deku Scrub. He continued, revealing how the Song of Healing made him a hylian again, and caused a Deku Scrub mask to appear, allowing Link to transform into a Deku Scrub whenever he pleased.

As he explained the workings of the song, and what it had managed to accomplish, Zelda looked puzzled, "If the song worked so well then, why did it not work here?"

Link shrugged, "I have no idea. It was strange... Normally when I play the song, I feel calm and soothed, rather than suddenly finding myself to have fallen unconscious on the floor."

Zelda frowned thoughtfully, "You used the song on victims of masks, but are all of the masks supposed to be harmful?" Link replied, "That was another thing that confused me. Usually, after the mask has been created from the chaos, it is helpful rather than harmful. Like the Gibdo Mask that Falco was wearing today. Normally, the mask allows the wearer to talk to Gibdos, and it prevents them from attacking you."

"But it worked in the exact opposite..." said Zelda.

Young Link frowned, "Wait, that creature was a Gibdo? It looked awfully like a ReDead wrapped up in toilet paper."

Link smiled, "They are pretty similar."

"But Link," started Zelda, "Didn't you say you were gathering these masks as you went along? What happened to them?"

Link shrugged, "I left them behind in Termina, with the mask salesman."

"Why?" asked Zelda.

"The mask salesman wanted them, and said that he would protect them. I wasn't sure of what to do with them, to be honest."

Young Link perked up, "So is the mask salesman behind this?"

Link frowned, "I don't think so. Someone probably stole the masks from him. If I had thought about it more carefully..."

Zelda spoke up, "It's too late now, Link. Besides, how could you have known?"

Link sighed, "Because it was a mask that was stolen from him in the very beginning that caused a lot of trouble."

"What mask?" asked Zelda.

Link narrowed his eyes, "Majora's Mask."

"Majora...?" trailed off Zelda. Link sighed, "Yes, Majora. He was an evil creature who had been previously trapped in a mask. When the Skull Kid stole this mask, Majora possessed him, causing him to make the moon hurtle down toward Termina."

"But then you two fought, and you defeated him, once again sealing him up in the mask, correct?"

Link smiled at Zelda, "Yes, then I returned to Hyrule." Young Link looked up in confusion, "But then why did you bother to collect all of those masks?" Link paused, then said, "They helped me to defeat Majora."

"Do you think Majora could have escaped?" asked Zelda. Link shrugged, "Possibly." "But what about Ganondorf then?" asked Young Link. "Who knows?" replied Link. Zelda looked puzzled, "What if they are working together?"

Link raised an eyebrow, "How, though? They come from different lands." Zelda shrugged, "Just a thought."

BOOM! "Aaaahhhh!" Zelda looked over at Link with a raised eyebrow, "How was _that _mask ever helpful?" Link smiled, "Well, it was cheaper than having to buy bombs all the time."

**_In the Middle of the Night_**

"Dark Link? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, master."

Ganondorf had found a more remote area of the mansion, and was now in the middle of contacting his minion from within a circle of light that shone from a bathroom floor.

"What is presently occurring in Hyrule at the moment?" asked Ganondorf.

The hoarse voice answered, "Nothing, as far as I can tell. Everything seems to be at peace."

Ganondorf frowned a bit, but knew that it was actually a good thing for his current situation, "Are you still in the cave at Lake Hylia?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now listen closely, there is something extremely important that I need you to retrieve for me."

"Of course, master. What is it?"

Ganondorf smiled, "First, I need you to go to the old man's laboratory..."

**_Morning _**

As sunlight began to trickle through the bedroom window, Link continued to simply stare at the ceiling with bloodshot eyes. He sighed, then got up out of bed. He yawned widely on his way out of the room, then knocked on Zelda's door.

She groaned, "Come in." and Link entered, spotting the princess laying in bed, staring out of the window, until she turned her head and looked up at him blearily.

"Good morning." said Link, and Zelda replied, "Don't start... I know you didn't sleep well either. I don't believe anyone could have between the screeching chickens, the occasional explosions, and the rather odd music that seems to drift down from Samus' room."

"Don't forget the moaning of the mummy, well, Gibdo, that you heard following Falco's cussing." said Young Link as he entered the room, also looking disheveled.

Zelda crawled out of bed, and Young Link looked up at Link, "So, are you ready for the match today?" Link shrugged, "My opponent can't have slept any better." "Who's left anyways?" asked Young Link.

As Link mentally went through the list, he froze, "Faore! Ganondorf is the only one left! Din! How could I have over looked that?"

Zelda looked worried, but then added, trying to be optimistic, "Well, he can't really kill you, can he? Technically, you're supposed to fall off of the course."

Link frowned, "I don't know..."

"Well, it doesn't really matter, does it? I mean, you can kick his butt!" exclaimed Young Link.

Link smiled, "Let's hope so."

They heard some heavy breathing, then Fox entered the room, looking worse than the rest of them. "This is ridiculous."

"Did you get the chickens stuck up in a tree again?" asked Young Link.

Fox nodded, "Yeah, but they only stay up there for so long. And even when I lock up the house the best I can, they still find some way in. The whole thing is crazy! I'm running away from freakin' chickens!"

"Master Hand is supposed to see to it today, right?" asked Falco as he also entered the room, not as torn up as Fox, but still looking exhausted.

"I suppose..." mumbled Link.

"Link, it's almost time for the match." said Zelda.

Link sighed, and said, "All right, let's go."

On their way down to the dome-shaped building, Fox and Falco wished Link luck before racing off once again to trap their chasers in trees and closets, or whatever else they could find. Despite the fact that it was the final match, only half of the Smashers had shown up.

When Link spotted Ganondorf leaning up against the far wall, he was surprised to find the gerudo looking so awake and well. While Ganondorf did look to be a little tired, he did not look exhausted as everyone else did.

When a rather unhappy Master Hand entered the building, there was a bit of an uproar, "Well, when are you going to take care of these damn masks? You must have heard them last night!" Master Hand frowned down on Captain Falcon, and replied, "After this match, I will see what I can do."

No one bothered to argue, Ness actually falling asleep and slumping down along the wall, and Master Hand continued, "Today, we have the final match: Link Versus Ganondorf. Now, if you two could step onto the transporters..."

Link was wished good luck and kissed on the cheek by Zelda, then headed over to the transporters and stood stiffly next to Ganondorf. The computer scrolled through the courses, and shouted, "Hyrule Temple!"

**Link Versus Ganondorf**

Link appeared on the left side of the stage while Ganondorf showed up on the right. The computer yelled, "Ready? Go!" and Link quickly drew out his sword as he narrowed his eyes at Ganondorf.

Ganondorf simply smiled as he walked toward Link. Link jumped to the small, center platform and pulled out a bomb. He jumped up over Ganondorf and swiftly threw it down, but Ganondorf dodged just as quickly.

Now on the same platform, both faced each other, and Link charged at Ganondorf with his sword raised high. He managed to make a decent slash in Ganondorf's right arm, and the gerudo growled as he retaliated with a raised fist.

Link went soaring off of the platform, and landed on the ground below. As he struggled back up to his feet, Ganondorf jumped down from the platform and landed next to him. Ganondorf swiftly bent down and grabbed Link's collar.

Link struggled furiously as he was lifted off of his feet, and before Ganondorf lost his grip, he quickly pulled out a small, black instrument, and pressed it against Link's stomach before releasing several volts of electricity. Link screamed out in pain, then Ganondorf dropped him to the ground before putting away his weapon.

"What the hell was that?" yelled Roy.

Link sat on the ground with his eyes closed tightly, clutching his stomach. Ganondorf laughed, "Pathetic child." Ganondorf's laughing stopped, and Link looked up to see that Ganondorf had frozen. The gerudo's eyes stared blankly into space as Link struggled to his feet.

Link stared at Ganondorf, catching his breath and perplexed with Ganondorf's lack of movement. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, then slashed his sword at Ganondorf, slicing the gerudo's calf and causing him to snap back to reality.

"Dammit!" Ganondorf scowled darkly at Link's angry face, but then began to take on more of a thoughtful expression. At that moment, something started to shake on Ganondorf's thick, black leather belt. As the thing became more aggressive, it started pushing Ganondorf from side to side, causing the gerudo to cuss in surprise. Finally, the thing managed to break lose, and went flying gracefully onto the left side of the main platform.

Link looked over to see Ganondorf's expression, expecting to see a smile, but was surprised to see that the gerudo looked grim.

Link narrowed his eyes, "What was that?"

Ganondorf only ignored him though, and jumped over to the main platform. Link followed cautiously, not liking this at all. When he reached the platform, and saw what the thing was, he gasped, "Faore!"

Majora's Mask hovered in midair as the sky began to darken, and Link looked back and forth between the mask and Ganondorf.

At this point, back in the control room, Zelda was going hysterical, "Stop the match! This cannot be allowed, can it? He should be disqualified immediately!" Master Hand stopped gaping at the screen, and turned to look at Zelda apologetically, "I'm sorry, I - I don't think I can." "What do you mean you can't?" yelled Zelda. "Well, I can't just transport them back, the computer does it automatically once the match is over." Roy looked furious, "You didn't plan very far ahead with this piece of junk of your's, did you!" Master Hand apologized, "I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do."

Link stood frozen on the spot, debating on what to do. However, he did not have much time as the mask sprang up into the air and a horrible, monstrous body grew in beneath it. Majora laughed as he appeared on the stage, "At last, you will pay for what you have done you insolent little brat!"

Majora whipped out his horrible tentacles and sent them soaring over to Link, striking him in the chest and sending him screaming off of the platform. Now with nasty gashes in his chest, Link was bleeding as he lied down on the ground, gasping for breath. Link struggled to his feet, hearing Majora laugh from up above him, and cringing when the monster grabbed him around the waist and hoisted him up into the air.

Link struggled painfully against the tentacles, and Majora simply laughed at his efforts, "You can squirm all you want, _hero_, but you will not escape your fate." Majora squeezed harder, and Link screamed, struggling more furiously as Majora's eyes blazed, "It is time for you to die!"

Majora slammed Link hard onto the ground, though holding him tight so that he would not go soaring off of the course. Link tried to beat upon the tentacles with his fists, but in his current condition was unable to do any significant damage.

He looked over at his sword longingly, wishing it would pick itself up from the ground and soar into his hands, but nothing happened. Majora smacked Link with one tentacle, causing him to cry out in pain, "You!" – another tentacle came down – "Damn!" – and two tentacles fell down upon Link's legs simultaneously – "Brat!" Majora smiled, "I hope I've managed to make you realize what real pain is!" Majora raised the several tentacles that were not pinning Link to the ground, and shouted, "Goodbye, Link!"

Zelda screamed, "No, Link!" as Mewtwo worked furiously with the computer.

The tentacles began their descent as Link prepared himself for the worst, hardly able to believe that he was going to die, especially this way, after all he had accomplished… Collecting the spiritual stones, defeating all of the horrible monsters, including the dragon Volvagia, and beating Ganondorf himself.

That was when he heard a furious, "NO!" and looked up to see the tentacles swerve off to the side. Majora shouted in rage, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

Ganondorf held onto to Majora's bent back, pounding the creature between the shoulders. Majora shrieked in pain when Ganondorf hit a nerve, and turned around swiftly, throwing Ganondorf off of his back. No longer pinned to the ground, Link crawled toward the edge of the platform, and toward his sword.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? I ALMOST HAD HIM!" screamed Majora. Ganondorf did not answer, but quickly regained his footing. Ganondorf charged at Majora, and punched him in the stomach with full force, though he caused little damage.

Majora yelled in outrage, and grabbed Ganondorf by his cape. Majora then tossed the gerudo to far left side of the stage, sending him over the edge. Ganondorf managed to jump and grab the edge of the platform.

Majora appeared above him, fury etched into his horrible face, and his yellow eyes slanted downward. He whipped out a tentacle, and sent it racing toward Ganondorf. However, the gerudo's eyes were focused elsewhere; he grabbed a few of the other tentacles that were dangling from Majora, and pulled hard, causing Majora to shout out in surprise and anger, "LET GO!"

Instead of crawling toward his destination, Link watched his two enemies fight each other on the edge of the platform, Majora leaning forward and loosing his balance as Ganondorf braced himself against the side of the platform, his legs tucked up underneath himself and his feet flat against the wall, using both arms to hold onto Majora, which was his only support.

Ganondorf pushed off with his feet, effectively yanking Majora off of the platform, and sending them both plunging through the endless sky. The computer shouted, "Game!" and the fighters reappeared to the control room, meeting up with hysterical Smashers.

"Link!" shouted Zelda as she rushed over. Link lied on the ground, breathing heavily and barely conscious.

As she neared him, though, Majora exploded, "NO! THIS ENDS NOW!" He threw Ganondorf across the room, slamming him into the far wall. Majora then immediately averted his attention to the vulnerable Link, but Zelda stood in his way, having placed up a protective shield called "Nayru's Love".

As Majora yelled at her, "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" she only looked back up at him with narrowed eyes and an expression of determination. Majora struck the shield, but the tentacles bounced right off.

By now, the other Smashers in the room had gathered their senses and attacked Majora simultaneously.

"You're going down!" shouted Captain Falcon, and both Roy and Marth shouted a battle cry in Japanese. Mewtwo shot little purple energy balls at Majora as the swordsmen raised their metal blades. Before being nailed by them, however, Majora shrieked as he felt one of his tentacles be sliced off.

He looked down and saw Young Link, who was scowling, and yelled out in rage, "You little--!"

Just then, he was bombarded with attacks, being slashed with Marth and Roy's swords, and punched by Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, Jigglypuff, and even Bowser's fists, though the Koopa ended up hitting Majora after he came back up, bunny ears flopping furiously. After being punched by Bowser, Majora lashed out his tentacles, sending all of the Smashers flying into the back of the room.

They all charged, and as Majora once again sent out his tentacles, he was stopped with a quick slash to the back, courtesy of Young Link. The Ice Climbers then came barreling toward him with their hammers stretched out, spinning in a circle and smacking him repeatedly.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu sent a huge bolt of electricity through Majora, which was quickly followed by one from Pichu. Yoshi then stuck out his tongue, prepared to turn Majora into an egg, but then ended up cringing as he backed away, spitting and wiping his tongue.

Ness quickly jumped in and sent a ball of electricity at Majora, shocking him effectively. Marth, Roy, Captain Falcon, and Mewtwo then all attacked Majora at the same time, pummeling him in rage as Young Link continued to sever tentacles from the back.

By this time, Zelda had managed to bring Link to the far side of the room, and away from the bulk of the fight, though her shield had now been removed as she had run out of energy. Majora let out the loudest and most horrible shriek yet, and in a fury slammed himself into the nearest wall, taking several of the Smashers with him.

His eyes blazed as he stomped over to Link and Zelda, ready to finish off what he had originally planned to do. As the Smashers recovered behind him, and came running, Zelda knew that they would not be able to arrive in time.

She stood up protectively over Link, shaking slightly, then thrust out her hands, using magic to power up the force of her attack. As the blue magic surrounded Zelda and Majora, the creature was suspended for less than a second before being slammed back into the far wall.

Zelda kneeled back down next to Link in fatigue, though prepared to fight again if necessary. However, she did not seem to need to as the Smashers once again came upon Majora.

Majora gave out one more horrifying screech before shrinking into a dark ball of light and disappearing once again into his imprisonment. At first, there was only silence as everyone waited apprehensively, but then most of the Smashers cheered wildly, and Young Link, after picking up a strange sack that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, joined Zelda, who was looking down at Link in concern.

"Is he okay...?" asked Young Link.

"I'll be fine." whispered Link hoarsely. Marth and Roy then joined the small group, and more of the Smashers after them.

"We should get you to the medical wing." said Marth. Roy and Marth carefully picked up Link, who winced with the movement. They then proceeded to leave the building, stepping outside into the sunlight.

"Yeah!"

"Finally!"

They spotted Fox and Falco dancing happily near a tall tree. Ness shouted at them, "What are you guys so happy about?"

Finally taking notice of the group of Smashers, Falco shouted, "The masks are gone!"

Fox, though, had seen Link, "What happened?"

"It's a long story..." replied Marth.

Fox and Falco left it at that for the moment, and followed the group up to the medical wing. Link was not the only one who needed medical care as many of the Smashers had received nasty gashes from Majora's tentacles.

Dr. Mario was more than overwhelmed as everyone entered the medical wing, shouting, "Mama mia!" as he spotted Link.

"Okay, a-everyone! Take a bed-a and I'll get to you after-a I take care of Link!" Zelda took up a chair beside Link's bed, who was tired but uninjured, while Young Link took the bed next to Link. As the other Smashers waited their turn, they explained what had occurred to Fox and Falco. While Dr. Mario was treating Link, the hylian fell asleep, becoming peacefully oblivious to the world around him, and for once receiving the rest that he desperately deserved.

That was when Young Link glanced around the room before asking, "Where's Ganondorf?"

A/N: Hey, everyone! Hopefully my grammar wasn't too bad this time. I tried to edit this chapter more carefully, but I always find myself skimming it. And so Sheik is female? Positive? I've never been sure about that, so thanks for the info Blissey, and I'm glad your back! Thanks again for all of the reviews everyone! And, as always, anyone who reads this story, please review!


	8. Chapter 8

**Mask Madness**

**Chapter 8: Recovering**

Breathing heavily, out of exhaustion and immense pain, Ganondorf gradually limped up the stairs, one of his massive arms wrapped around his chest.

"Damn stairs..."

Ganondorf reached a bathroom, then quickly and clumsily set up a circle of powder. When he finished preparing the spell, he began to chant, and soon afterwards a hoarse voice replied hastily, "Yes, Master?" There was the sound of a large amount of water being sprayed in every direction, as if some enormous legendary monster had risen from the bottom of the ocean. SCREECH!

Ganondorf covered his ears as the horrible sound reverberated throughout the bathroom. After cautiously removing his hands, the gerudo listened to the sharp noises in the background.

"What's going on? Why can I not see you?"

A bit out of breath, Dark Link answered, "You're spell must be weak, but I am here fighting this horrible creature who has interrupted my mission of retrieving the necklace of the golden thief."

There was a screech of pain, and Ganondorf asked, "You do not have the necklace yet?"

Dark Link replied, "No, Master. It is very difficult to retrieve."

Ganondorf growled, "Hurry then! I need that necklace by at least tomorrow night!"

Dark Link answered, "Yes, Master."

The spell was broken, and Ganondorf stomped away furiously. "I better have that necklace by tomorrow, or I'm going to have to destroy that insolent creation of mine."

**_Late Afternoon_**

Slowly, painfully, a blurry white object came into sight. Link forced his eyes open, then gradually came to realize that what he was staring at was one of the white walls of the medical wing.

Link turned his head to the left, but only saw an empty chair. He tried to sit up, but it was simply too difficult and too painful to move, his body aching all over. He winced and clenched his eyes shut, then felt a gentle pressure on his chest, "Not-a so fast! You-a need to get a lot-a more rest first!"

Link looked up into Dr. Mario's face tiredly, "How long has it been? What about everyone else?"

Dr. Mario smiled, "Why, it-a has only-a been a few hours! And everyone-a else that was-a injured is in here!" Sure enough, when Link turned his head to the right, he saw many of the Smashers bandaged up, some talking and some sleeping. It was then that Link realized that he himself had also been heavily bandaged up.

Dr. Mario took off, and Link looked over at Young Link, who was watching Ness like a hawk. Link raised an eyebrow, and was about to ask, when Ness gave off a particularly loud snort and promptly rolled off of his bed, landing on the floor with a THUMP! and an, "Ouch!"

Young Link laughed lightly to himself, "Four and still counting."

"Glad to see you so amused."

Young Link swiftly turned towards Link, then smiled, "Oh, hello! How are you feeling?"

"I've been better. What about you?"

Young Link shrugged, "Not too bad. I just wish Dr. Mario would let me leave already!" Link smiled, "Well, he should let you out soon then. Where's Zelda?" Young Link shrugged, "She left a little while ago."

"Okey-dokey, Link. Time for your-a medicine!"

Link frowned in response, while Young Link laughed, "Ha! Now you get to suffer at the hands of the disgusting concoctions!"

Dr. Mario hesitated as he looked over Link, "Hmmm, this is-a bit complicated. Hold-a on." When Dr. Mario left, Young Link asked, "What is he talking about?"

Link groaned, "I can't sit up yet."

Young Link's eyes widened, "And I thought he was being strict with me!"

Link opened his mouth to reply, but then Dr. Mario returned with Luigi and Mario, "Okey-dokey, lift him nice-a and easy." Link's eyes widened at this news as Mario and Luigi stood on either side of him, slipped their hands underneath his back, and lifted.

Link gasped in pain and closed his eyes, and suddenly felt a horrible liquid being poured down his throat. He coughed a bit, then felt himself be laid back down on the bed.

"Faore." He felt his head sink back down into the pillow, then glared up at Dr. Mario, "What was that?"

Dr. Mario smiled pleasantly, "Medicine." He then walked away as Mario rolled his eyes, "Trust-a me, you don't-a want to know."

Link yawned, then looked over at Young Link, "Any idea when Zelda will be back?" "No, why?" "I want her to place that shield over me to protect me from Dr. Mario." Link felt his eyelids droop, and the white medical wing became black.

_**Down the Hall**_

"So this Majora guy just disappeared?" Zelda, Fox and Falco were walking down a hallway discussing the battle. Zelda turned toward Fox, her eyes tired but concerned, and replied, "It seems that way. There was a blinding light, then he was gone."

Fox frowned, "That's strange. Usually there are some kinds of remains." Falco yawned widely, "At least those horrid masks are gone. I plan on sleeping solid tonight." Fox nodded in agreement, "Same here. Where did the masks go though?" "Did they just disappear as well?" asked Zelda.

Fox answered, "Yeah, same as Majora did."

There was silence as everyone walked down the hallway deep in thought. Their footsteps echoed, and they turned around yet another corner. Falco frowned, "What about Ganondorf? Why did he fight against Majora?"

Zelda shrugged, and sighed, "I don't know. He's not been making any sense lately." "Where is he anyways?" asked Fox. Falco smiled, "Maybe he's ran away."

Zelda rolled her eyes in amusement, "I doubt it." Falco shrugged, then yawned again, "How much farther is the medical wing?" Zelda replied, "Not far."

Falco frowned at her, "That's what you said two stairways ago." Fox shook his head in amusement, "You don't have to worry about hurrying away from the mummy anymore, you know."

Falco glared at Fox, "I'm tired, okay! Besides, constantly escaping a mummy is not easy!" "Atleast you only had one of them to worry about." replied Fox smoothly. Falco threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, "Oh, please! You were being chased by some chickens! That's nothing!"

"Hey, it wasn't easy getting them stuck up in the tree!"

"How _did _you get them up there anyways? Throw them?"

"No, they flew up there."

Falco raised an eyebrow, "And they didn't just come back down because...?"

Fox shrugged, "I don't know, I guess it's because they're stupid."

Falco smirked, "So you were busy running away from stupid, possibly harmless chickens."

"Harmless? Ha! Do you not see the missing fur? As for you, you barely got a scratch, just running away from some dummy wrapped in toilet paper!"

Zelda rolled her eyes as the two once again argued, and entered the medical wing, where she sat down in her chair and gazed at Link's peaceful, sleeping face.

**_Morning _**

Link groaned as he gradually opened his eyes, squinting against the sunlight. "Why, good morning sleepy head." Link turned his head to the left to see a smiling Zelda. "Mmmm, good morning. Did you sleep well?" Zelda nodded, "Looks like you did too."

Link replied, "Yeah, sure did." Link moved around a bit, testing his body. He no longer felt unbearably heavy, but it was still uncomfortable to move. Even so, he pressed his hands flat on the bed, then pushed himself up with a groan. Zelda quickly propped up his pillow, then he sank back into it with a soft sigh.

When he looked up at her, he was surprised to see Zelda staring at him with concern. His smile faded, and he asked, "What's wrong?"

Zelda seemed to snap back to reality, then turned her head away as she sighed, "Well," she looked back at him, "I'm just, um, really glad that you're okay. I mean..."

Link smiled back, understanding, "Everything's okay now, Zelda. Though, I have to thank you. That shield of yours really helped."

Zelda blushed a bit, "Well, I suppose it's about time that I saved you for once. Besides," she smiled at him widely, "I was starting to get tired of being the damsel in distress."

Link laughed, "I don't blame you! Besides, I was getting tired of having to climb mountains, navigate forests, and --"

"Okay, I understand!" interrupted Zelda.

Just then, Young Link entered the room. "Hello! Finally awake, huh?"

Link raised an eyebrow, "When is it that you get to leave the room?" Young Link replied, "This morning, along with everyone else." Link blinked, "Oh. So I can go as well?" "Well, no. I think Dr. Mario still wants you to stay here another night."

"What? Why?" "You still haven't gotten out of bed!" perked up Zelda. Link faced her, "I can! In fact..."

Link went to swing his legs to the side of the bed, but Zelda pushed him back, "Oh no you don't!" "Hey! Come on, Zelda! You're not my mother!"

Zelda raised an eyebrow, and was about to retort, when Dr. Mario entered the room, "Hey! Good-a morning! Glad your-a finally up!" He hurried off to the side of the room, then returned with a bottle of red liquid.

Link moaned, "Oh no..."

"Here-a you go!"

Link took the bottle, glared at it, then sighed and quickly gulped it down. He coughed a bit, "Blech! Can't you put sugar in this or something?"

Dr. Mario shook his head, "Nope. The worst-a it tastes, the better-a it works! Well, I have-a to go. I'll be-a right back." Dr. Mario left the room, and Link mumbled as Young Link fingered something on his belt, "So, do you know where Majora has gone?"

Link looked up, then shrugged, "No idea."

"Oh. Well, I found something when he disappeared, but I'm not sure if it's safe to open." Young Link handed Link a small, brown sack, who observed it with a frown. "This actually looks familiar."

With this in mind, Link opened the bag, then peered inside and discovered that it was exactly what he thought it had been. "It's the masks that I gathered in Termina." He pulled out the top one, which was the bunny hood.

Zelda looked at it wearily, "Is it safe?"

Link shrugged, "I'm not sure. Though, the curse should be off of them now that Majora has been defeated."

"Let me test it." said Young Link.

"But..." started Zelda.

"Dont worry, the worst that it'll do is make me slow."

With this, Young Link swiftly grabbed the bunny hood, and placed it on his head. He started to walk around the room, then took off at an impossibly fast sprint, shouting, "This is awesome!"

Link smiled, "Great! They're back to normal!"

"Does this mean that Majora is actually gone?" asked Zelda hopefully.

"Possibly." Link looked back into the bag, and pulled out a second mask. Zelda looked at it curiously, "Isn't that the mask that Samus was wearing?" Link nodded, "Yeah. Though, the wearer should be able to stop dancing when they want to now."

Link pulled out another mask, one known as the "Bremen Mask." "Isn't that the mask that caused the chickens to chase Fox?" asked Zelda. Link nodded, "Now, it should let the wearer lead them."

Zelda raised an eyebrow, "Lead chickens? Why would anyone want to do that?"

"Well,"

Young Link zipped into the room, "This is so cool! What else is there?" He spotted the Bremen Mask, then picked it up. "Hmmm..." He then ran quickly back out of the room as Link shouted, "Hey!"

Zelda laughed, "All well. What harm can he do leading chickens?" Link simply stared back, then said, "I'm sure he'll find something."

Link returned his attention to the sack, then pulled out a mask in the shape of the face of a wooden creature with glowing orange eyes. He frowned at it, thinking to himself, 'Will this work? Is it safe? Will I be able to return back to normal?"

Zelda looked at Link with concern, "Is there something wrong with that one Link?" He snapped back to reality, then turned to Zelda, "Sorry. This is the Deku Mask, and it can transform the wearer into a deku scrub."

Zelda's eyes widened, "Really?" She looked at Link a bit hesitantly, "Could I try it?" Link looked over at her, "Well, I don't know if it will work properly... I would rather you didn't. Trust me, you don't want to get stuck being a deku scrub."

Zelda frowned a bit, "I suppose so." She looked out the window, where she saw a blur of green with bunny ears. "I wonder what Young Link is up to."

**_Around the SSBM Mansion_**

As Young Link sped down the hallway, around one corner after another, and sliding down the handrail of the stairway, he received funny looks from the Smashers. After rounding yet another corner, he ran into Fox and Falco. Literally.

"Omph!" "What the hell?" As all three of them got to their feet, Young Link apologized, "Sorry, I guess I got a bit carried away."

Falco began to glare at him, but then smirked as he spotted the bunny hood. "Nice bunny ears. So where's the rest of the costume?" Young Link rolled his eyes, as Fox asked, "Wait... Isn't that one of the masks from earlier?"

Falco blinked, and observed the bunny hood again, this time exclaiming, "Damn it! Where did you get those? Hurry, take them off!"

Young Link smiled, "Don't worry, the masks are fine now! The curse is off!"

"Wait, you have _all _of the masks?" asked Fox in surprise.

Young Link nodded, "I think so." As Fox and Falco stood staring, Young Link started to become impatient, "Well, I'll see you later. Bye!"

He took off down the hallway, then went through the huge oak doors that led outside. Fox and Falco looked at each other, then followed.

Ness and the Ice Climbers were talking over by the water fountain, and Young Link came up to them, "Hello! Are you guys feeling better now?"

Ness was going to reply, but when he spotted the bunny hood, he pointed and laughed, "What are those? Did your Mom send them and place some glue on the inside or something?"

Young Link frowned, "No, it's --"

On a roll, Ness shouted, "Why don't you hop like a bunny for us!"

Young Link rolled his eyes, "Okay, ha ha, but --"

Ness laughed even harder, "Come on! Little bunny foo foo, hopping through the forest,"

Young Link narrowed his eyes, then quickly snatched Ness' cap and took off. Ness stopped laughing immediately, shouting, "Hey! Give that back!"

When he saw how fast Young Link was running, though, he gaped over at the Ice Climbers, who gaped back at him.

"Good luck catching him."

"Oh, come on! I just need you guys to help me trap him!"

"Well..."

"Please?"

The Ice Climbers sighed, "Okay, so how are we going to do this?" "It'll be too hard to corner him, and even if we managed it, he would probably just slip by us." explained Ness. "So an actual trap?" asked Popo. Ness nodded, "Here's my idea..."

_**Medical Wing**_

Link frowned at the checkerboard, "I don't like this game."

Zelda smiled at him, "You're just saying that because you're losing."

Link frowned, "No, I don't like it because it's a stupid and boring game."

Zelda rolled her eyes, "Well, what should we do then?" Link shrugged, "I don't know..."

He looked over at the Deku Mask that sat on the side table, and Zelda followed his gaze, saying, "You really want to know if it works, don't you?"

"Well, sort of..."

"It _should _be okay. If the other masks are working fine, why shouldn't this one?" asked Zelda. Link looked over at her in thought, "You want to know as badly as I do, don't you?" Zelda blushed a bit, "Well, yes... If it works, then there is an even better chance that Majora is actually gone."

They both stared at each other, then Zelda finally picked up the mask. She looked over at Link, who was watching her carefully. "Okay, but keep in mind that it is painful to transform. When you want to return to normal, just pull back behind the sides of your face." explained Link.

Zelda nodded, then closed her eyes as she lifted the mask to her face. She felt the cold surface touch her skin, and she braced herself. She held the mask up for a bit, but nothing happened.

She brought it down from her face and frowned at it, "Then, does this mean...?"

Link started, "It may have nothing to do with Majora, Zelda." However, the princess looked unconvinced, and Link continued, "Maybe you weren't doing it correctly. Here, let me try."

Zelda handed it to Link, though she didn't believe that anything would happen. Link peered at the mask for a little while, a bit apprehensive, then lifted it quickly to his face. He felt the cold surface of the mask touch his skin, then grab it.

Suddenly, pain coursed through his body and he yelled out loud, frightening Zelda. "Link!" There was a flash of light, and Zelda couldn't believe her eyes. Sitting in the bed where Link had been was a tiny deku scrub with blonde hair and a green outfit. He blinked a couple of times, then looked at his hands.

He made strange, hollow squeaky noises, then turned to Zelda and spoke with his new strange voice, "I wonder why it only worked on me..." Zelda only stared back, and Link asked, "Um, Zelda?" She shook her head, then said, "Um, wow. That's..."

Dr. Mario entered the room looking at his clipboard, "Okey-dokey, now-a --" he spotted Link, and his eyes widened, "Mama mia!" As Link saw Dr. Mario rush over to a side of the room and grab a broom, he hurriedly pulled off the mask, appearing once again as a hylian.

When Dr. Mario turned around and saw Link there, he paused, and gaped, then looked around the room for the deku scrub. "What-a is going on-a?"

Before Link could say anything, Zelda spoke up, "Nothing! What are you talking about?"

Dr. Mario blinked, "But-a, I mean-a, didn't you-a...?"

Link and Zelda only looked back at him, and he sighed, "Nevermind..." He put the broom down, then brought over another bottle, "Well, here you-a go!"

Link glared at the medicine, then took it from Dr. Mario and quickly gulped it down. He coughed a bit, "Yuck! I'll never get used to this!"

Dr. Mario glanced around the room one final time before shaking his head and declaring, "I'm-a going to go-a lie down."

Link looked over at Zelda, "Why did you want to lie to him? He probably thinks he's going crazy now."

Zelda shrugged, "It was instinct."

She looked down at the side table, then picked up a deck of cards, "Want to play?" Link nodded, "Sure." As Zelda dealt out the cards, Link yawned.

He picked up his hand, but started having a hard time focusing his eyes. He shook his head to get rid of the sleepiness, but ended up yawning again, not really looking at his cards.

"Link? Do you need some rest?"

Link looked up at Zelda and shook his head, "No! I'm fine! Go ahead and take your turn."

Zelda raised an eyebrow, "I just did."

Link blinked, "Oh."

Zelda rolled her eyes, "Come on, you should sleep. Don't be so stubborn."

Link frowned as Zelda put the cards away. "I'm not going to sleep."

**_Outside the SSBM Mansion_**

"Okay, are you guys ready?" asked Ness.

The Ice Climbers nodded, then Ness left in search for Young Link. He left the group of trees and went out into the open. Ness passed by the fountain, and continued down a slope. At the bottom, he spotted Young Link, who was running toward a chicken.

Ness ran down after him, then shouted, "Hey! Come here!"

Young Link looked up at Ness, then frowned, "I'm not giving you back your hat."

"Oh really?" asked Ness tauntingly.

Young Link raised an eyebrow, "Yes..."

Ness then hunched over, and sent a ball of electricity toward Young Link. Young Link's eyes widened, and he quickly dodged the attack. He then faced Ness with narrowed eyes as the kid laughed, "Ha! You should have seen the look on your face!"

Young Link frowned at Ness, but then glanced at the chicken, and smiled. He took off the bunny hood, then put on the Bremen Mask.

From a little ways away, Fox gasped in alarm, "What is he...?" Falco elbowed him, "Shush!"

Ness looked utterly confused, and simply stared. Young Link brought his ocarina up to his lips, then began to march to the beat. The chicken seemed to perk up when Young Link neared him, and began to follow him. Chickens started to appear from across the field, and Young Link marched around, gathering them behind him in a straight line.

Ness finally found his voice, "Okay, so you can lead chickens. I'm not supposed be afraid of _them_, am I?"

With this insult, Young Link faced Ness, then stopped playing. All of the chickens looked at Ness, then as one giant flock flew after him. Ness' eyes widened, then he quickly turned around and ran, "Oh, crap!"

Young Link cracked up, practically rolling on the ground as Fox and Falco gaped at him. "How the hell did he do that?" asked Fox. Ness and the chickens disappeared from sight, though they could still be heard, and Young Link put on the bunny hood before running after them.

"Wow, Ness can run fast when he's motivated." When Young Link caught up, he saw Ness suddenly zip up out of sight. As Ness dangled from inside a net, the chickens hopped up and down trying to reach him.

"Aaaahhh! Call off the stupid things already!"

Young Link laughed lightly, then placed the Bremen Mask on his face once again. When he started to march, the chickens lined up behind him immediately, and when he stopped, they were once again calmly walking around the grass.

The Ice Climbers snickered a bit as Ness yelled, "Get me down from here!"

Ness was lowered to the ground, and his face was as red as a cherry. He faced Young Link, "How did you do that?"

Young Link smiled, "I can show again if you like."

Ness' eyes widened, "No!"

Young Link continued to smile at him, and Ness sighed, "Look, I just want my hat back..." Young Link raised an eyebrow, "What do I get in return?"

"Um, an apology?" said Ness.

Young Link looked thoughtful, "That would be nice, but how about some candy as well?" Ness frowned, but agreed, "Okay, fine. But no more chicken attacks then, okay?"

"For today."

Ness raised an eyebrow, "And tomorrow."

Young Link shrugged, "Fine."

Ness nodded, "Okay, let's shake on it." Young Link and Ness shook hands, then Ness said, "Stay here, and I'll go get some candy."

Ness ran off, then the Ice Climbers faced Young Link, "So... How did you do that anyways?" Young Link smiled, "It's a secret."

_**Medical Wing**_

Link blearily opened his eyes, and turned to the left to see Zelda reading a book. She looked up when he moved, then smiled at him. "Hello again."

Link frowned, "What...? When did I fall asleep?"

Zelda casually replied, "A couple of hours ago." She grinned at him, "I knew you were tired."

Link rolled his eyes as he sat up in bed. "Have you been here the whole time?"

Zelda nodded, "Dr. Mario brought some food up not too long ago. He said that you should eat."

Link frowned, "I'm not hungry."

Zelda narrowed her eyes at him, "Don't make me force it down your throat..."

Link raised an eyebrow, "You have got to be kidding me. Besides, I'm not hungry because I've just been in this stupid bed all day."

"No, it's because your body is just too tired to realize that it needs food." retorted Zelda.

Just then, Young Link entered the room with a small, white stick coming out of his mouth, and mumbled a "Hello." Zelda looked at the white stick, "What is that you're eating?"

Young Link took the candy out of his mouth, and said, "A lollipop. It's really good." "Where did you get it?" "From Ness, along with some other stuff."

Zelda looked suspicious, "He just gave it to you for no apparent reason?"

"Well, it was an exchange for his hat." "His hat?" asked Link. Young Link nodded, "Ness made fun of the bunny hood, so I stole his hat."

"And so then he offered you candy?" asked Zelda.

"Well, yeah, after I attacked him with the chickens." Zelda gaped, and Link smiled over at her, "And you said that no harm could come from leading chickens."

Young Link's eyes widened, "Are you joking? Those birds can get nasty! When you make them mad..." He shivered, and Zelda shook her head in amusement, "I'm not even going to ask..."

Zelda turned back toward Link, "Will you eat now?" Link frowned, "No..." Zelda groaned, "Why are you so stubborn when you're ill?"

"Because it sucks to be stuck in bed." answered Young Link.

Zelda looked over at him, but then looked thoughtful, "Okay, how about this: If you can stand without any support, then you don't have to eat."

Link smiled, "Deal! I've been dying to get up all day! See, I'll show you, I'm fine."

Link threw the blankets off of himself, the shifted to the side of the bed. He planted his feet on the floor, and Zelda came over by his side as he stood up. Immediately, Link became dizzy as the room whirled about. He swayed as his legs shook, waving his arm around for something to grasp.

He collapsed in the next second, Zelda catching him awkwardly. She slid him back onto the bed, and he lied across it, panting. After a little while, Link scowled, "This is ridiculous! Why am I the only one still stuck in bed?"

Zelda said quietly, "Because you were the most badly injured."

"But to this extent?" Link groaned as he turned in the bed, sitting the right way around. Everyone remained silent for a bit, until Zelda spoke up, "So... Would you like some soup?"

Link sighed, "And you call me stubborn."

Zelda smiled, then when to retrieve the food as Link looked over at Young Link, "Never date."

Young Link smiled, "Zelda's as bad as Saria is."

Link nodded, "True. But it's easier to deal with one than two."

Young Link nodded, then held out some candy, "Here, try some." Link sighed, "Might as well." He took the wrapper of off the lollipop, then licked it. "Hmmm, not bad..."

_**Late at Night**_

Ganondorf gave off a great snort as he woke up. He stretched his stiff body, then looked out of the window to see that it was night. He sat up, mumbling, "Dark Link better have finished the job by now..."

He got to his feet, then walked out of the room and toward the stairs, thinking out his plan, 'At least I'm feeling a lot better now, though a bit sore. I just hope that Link hasn't recovered already... If Dark Link has retrieved the necklace of the golden thief, then I can go ahead and finally have…'

He smiled momentarily, then thought back to the present, 'Stealing that luphira stone from Master Hand was easy, now that he's preoccupied with the result of the last battle.'

Ganondorf entered the bathroom, and set up his usual circle. The spell was stronger this time, "Yes, Master?"

"Do have the necklace?"

"Yes, Master." answered Dark Link.

Ganondorf smiled widely, "Excellent. Now, set up your side of the spell while I do mine over here."

Dark Link nodded, and they both went to work with more powder and chanting. The item was sent through the spell, and in only a little bit of time Ganondorf had the necklace sitting in his hands.

"Good work, Dark Link."

The spell was then cut off, and Ganondorf admired the dark black necklace, which had many, large black spikes pointing toward the center. On the outside of the necklace, there was a small, triangular and golden stone that glittered with the moonlight.

Ganondorf got up to his feet, then left the bathroom, laughing lightly, "Now, I have some work to do..."

A/N: And still more unanswered questions… A lot of things should come together in the next chapter. Anyways, once again, thanks for the reviews! Please keep it up, I love to hear your input!


	9. Chapter 9

**Mask Madness**

**Chapter 9: We're where?**

"No..."

The heat radiated from the spreading flames of the fire, making her feel as if she were actually being engulfed in its fury.

"No, not again... It can't..."

She stood petrified, watching people dash out of their precious homes as they screamed out to each other, their faces scarlet and lit up by the blazing monstrosity. Out of tune with the screaming, a deep, billowing laugh erupted from behind like the sound of a whip cracking on someone's back. Zelda quickly turned around to spot a hovering figure in the smoke-covered sky, and screamed, screamed as her subjects did all around her.

Zelda sat up abruptly in her bed, breathing heavily. She glanced around the room, then closed her eyes to focus and relax, 'It was just a nightmare...' She opened her eyes slightly, 'Well, that and a terrible memory...' She clenched her eyes shut and shook her head, 'No more! I must forget about it. It's done and over with, and will not happen again...'

_**Elsewhere**_

_Creak. _Ganondorf froze, then thought to himself in frustration, "Damn! What is with these floors? He sighed, then slowly continued his way down the hall. Then he turned around a corner, and continued down yet another stairway.

'Almost there...' "Pika..." Ganondorf's eyes widened, and he quickly faced the noise. He saw Pikachu coming up the stairs, carrying something in his mouth. The gerudo backed up into the shadows, watching Pikachu cautiously. As the pokemon came closer, he saw that Pikachu was holding a large chunk of cheese in his mouth.

Ganondorf looked up at the roof in irritation and continued to wait for Pikachu to leave. Unfortunately, Pikachu sat down on the carpet and took the cheese out of his mouth. Ganondorf grinded his teeth as Pikachu happily took a bite. He chewed it slowly, savoring the flavor as the gerudo only barely managed to stop himself from pulling out what hair he had left in frustration.

Finally, quietly and carefully, Pikachu stuck the cheese back into his mouth, glanced around, and disappeared around the far corner. Ganondorf then continued his way in the opposite direction, and neared his destination.

At the sight of a certain door, Ganondorf smiled, 'Finally...' He carefully opened the door, then entered the room. Even though it was dark, this room was probably the brightest out of all the others in the mansion. As the white walls surrounded Ganondorf, the gerudo stared at the hylian sleeping in one of the many beds.

Ganondorf shut the door behind him, then brought out the necklace of the golden thief. With the golden stone shining, he unlatched the necklace, then lowered it down toward Link's neck. As Ganondorf reached around the back of Link's neck to latch up the necklace, one of the front metal spikes scratched Link's skin.

"Aaahhh!" Link woke up immediately to the horrible burning sensation on the front of his neck, sitting upright and pulling away the piece of jewelry. Ganondorf cussed as he went to catch the necklace, and Link looked at him through watery, slanted eyes.

"What the --?"

Ganondorf growled and pounced, pinning Link to the bed and lowering the necklace to his neck once again. Link struggled furiously, kicking, hitting, and twisting around in Ganondorf's grasp. The door flew open and slammed against the wall.

"Link!"

"Get off of him!"

Zelda, Roy and Marth rushed over to the bed as the necklace latched into place. Link screamed in blinding pain as all of the spikes dug into his skin, burning him, stabbing him, draining him, and, stealing from him... As Link desperately tried to rip the necklace off, the rest of the Smashers came into the room in small groups, all worried and confused.

Zelda attempted to near Link, but he was too hysterical. Falco and Fox rounded on Ganondorf, yelling, "Take it off!" NOW!" A golden light appeared in Link's chest, and gradually made it's way up to the shoulders.

"What's going on?" "What's wrong?" "What's happening?" The Smashers stood around nervously, eager to help but not knowing how. Zelda was crying, desperately trying to make Link's pain go away.

She screamed, "He's had enough! Let him go, Ganondorf!"

He smirked, "Don't worry, it'll be over soon."

The golden light traveled even higher, until finally it reached the point where the necklace grappled Link's skin, the points now spilling a little blood. The golden light faded into the necklace, Ganondorf's eyes glittering as he watched it make progress. When the golden, triangular stone on the front of the necklace flared brightly, Link stopped screaming, thinking, 'Is it over...? The pain's finally gone, but, I feel... I feel weak... Something's wrong... Something's missing... Why do I feel so empty...?'

Link collapsed onto the ground, groaning, wrapping his arms around his chest. As everyone stood in shock, Ganondorf walked over to the fallen hero. His movement, however, triggered everyone else's.

"Get away from him!" Zelda jumped between Link and Ganondorf as Samus jumped onto the gerudo's back. Angered, Ganondorf threw out his arms and blasted everyone back, slamming them into the walls of the room.

He then quickly kneeled down next to Link, who was shivering on the ground now, and unlatched the necklace. Ganondorf tucked the necklace into his pocket, then lifted Link by the collar as the Smashers recovered.

Link gasped as many of the room's occupants narrowed their eyes. Ganondorf smiled at them, "Now, don't move or I will kill Link." He snorted, then added, "Easily."

'It shouldn't be like this...' thought Zelda as she sadly watched Link struggle in Ganondorf's grasp, though it wasn't even much of one... Ganondorf took out the luphira stone and held it out, causing it to reflect the moonlight. As he began to chant, however, the stone began to glow with its own source.

The Smashers watched in anticipation as a vortex appeared on the floor below the stone, shining blue as it swirled around. Ganondorf stopped chanting, then smirked at his audience, "Goodbye. I have a land to rule." he tossed Link onto the ground like a rag doll, then jumped down into the portal.

Before anyone could do anything, a wind picked up out of nowhere, and began to drag them into the shrinking portal. "Hey!" shouted Ness. "Woah!" yelped Marth. "Make it stop!" screeched Peach.

They tried to hold onto something or each other, but the wind was too strong. Beds and tables scraped the floor as they were pulled toward the portal. The Smashers screamed as they were sucked into the vortex, and disappeared from the world they knew in a flash of light. They all fell through a tunnel of colors, images blurring together. Eventually, the end could be seen, and they all fell through, falling out of a sky and landing hard on a stretch of grass.

Most of them groaned as they regained their footing. Marth rubbed his head as he looked around blearily, "Where are we...?"

"No way!" Many of the Smashers turned their attention to Young Link, who was looking around with wide eyes. The field stretched on in all directions, stopping only at a small river on the right and at a moat straight ahead, where there was a large stone wall. In the far distance behind the wall was a large white castle. "We're in Hyrule!"

Falco gaped, "Wait, so we're in the medieval times?"

Young Link nodded absently, and Falco frowned, "Damn! I can't use a sword!"

"But why are we here?" asked Samus.

Zelda looked as if she was on the verge of tears, "Ganondorf must be here! To terrorize and rule again! And after everything... How could this have happened?"

Lying on the ground, Link moaned, and everyone focused their attention on him as Zelda knelt down by his side, "Oh, Link... What did he do to you?" Link barely opened his eyes, then looked up at Zelda, "I think... that he took... something..." He shivered, "I'm so cold..."

Zelda had a flashback to the golden light traveling up from Link's body into the necklace, then gasped, "Link, let me see your left hand." Link lifted his arm a little ways, but could not get very far, and Zelda gently held it up as she slid off the glove. She hoped against all odds that she wasn't right, but...

"Oh, Link... What are we going to do?" He took the triforce of courage!" Link gasped, 'That was it! That was why he was feeling so empty!' Sure enough, when he went to check by looking at the back of his hand, where there was usually a symbol of the triforce with the bottom left triangle lit up and showing that he owned the triforce piece of courage, it was blank.

'But,' Link thought to himself, 'How powerful is Ganondorf now...? Will I be able to defeat him?' His eyes widened further, 'Will he be after Zelda's triforce of wisdom now even more than before?'

"Link...?" called Zelda in concern, as he was breathing laboriously. Link returned his attention to her, but didn't know what to say. Finally, he sighed, and said, "I... He'll be after you now, Zelda. But... I can't..."

Zelda finished quietly, "Stop him."

She then looked up, her eyebrows drawing closer to each other, "Not yet, anyways." She looked around at the staring Smashers, then said, "I know this isn't your problem, or your world, or even your own time period, but since you're all stuck here anyways..."

Falco rolled his eyes, "Of course we're going to help you. We're kinda out of choices anyways." Fox added, "Besides, in the end, Ganondorf still has that luphira stone, and could end up destroying all of our worlds in the end."

"Let's-a go!" perked up Mario. Zelda smiled, observing how those who had originally been brought together to fight _against _each other were now set together to fight_ with _and _for_ each other. It's amazing how things can change in so short a time.

"So," started Roy awkwardly, "Where do we start?" Zelda frowned in thought, and Link said quietly, "Nabooru..." Zelda smiled down at Link, "Yes, that's probably the best." Then she frowned, "But, what about you?"

Link breathed deeply, "I need to go to the Kokori Forest and find some fairies." "Okay, so let's go there first." said Zelda. Link shook his head, "No, you can't come into the forest, you'll be cursed." Zelda looked worried, "But then...? I mean, you can't walk..." Young Link's eyes lit up, "I could take him in!"

Samus laughed, "Talk about another awkward moment!" Young Link paused at his, imagining how the children of the forest, or rather the Kokori, would react. As it is, the Kokori are a race where everyone never grows up, but remains a ten-year old child. Each of them have fairies to look after them, along with the Great Deku Tree (which is, in fact, a talking, living tree), and they cannot leave the forest without dying.

While Link is a hylian, he was raised in the forest as a Kokori, having been brought in as a baby by his mother right before she died, and so he can enter the forest as he pleases. Though, it took a lot of work to be recognized as an adult, and so seeing both the child and adult version of him at the same time would be even more confusing. Young Link could just see the Kokori freaking out, running for their wooden weapons and attacking what they would consider to be a trick.

Even though it was unlike her, Zelda groaned in frustration, "Why does this have to be so complicated?" "Don't worry," started Young Link, "I could contact Saria through the ocarina and have her meet us on the bridge. She'll understand." Link agreed, "That should work."

Young Link then took out the ocarina, and played Saria's Song. Had it not been for all of the tension, some of the Smashers may have even danced along to the catchy tune, but instead they stared at Young Link as he seemingly stood there, in a type of trance. After a bit, he spoke, "She said she'll be there as soon as possible." "All right, let's go." said Zelda as she climbed up to the feet.

"Here, I've got him." said Captain Falcon as he picked up Link. Falco rolled his eyes as he whispered to Fox, "Show off." Thankfully, the forest was not too far away behind them, and it took them only half an hour to reach it. Captain Falcon set Link down on the ground outside the tunnel, and Young Link then proceeded to drag Link through it. Zelda watched them leave, then turned to face the Smashers. "So, welcome to Hyrule."

**_On the Bridge_**

The melody of the forest reached Young Link's ears, and he sighed in content. He looked around for Saria, but she had not yet arrived. He looked down at Link, "It's nice to be back in the forest." Link replied, "Yeah, I just wish it was under better circumstances. I'm not even going to be of much help..."

Young Link sighed, "You will be later on..." Link groaned, "I still can't believe this... When I see Ganondorf again, I'm going to kick his --"

"Link...?" Saria, a Kokori dressed like Link who had green hair and a fairy circling her head, and Link's best friend, appeared on the bridge. She then spotted the adult Link lying down on the bridge, and gasped.

She rushed over to him, "This is worse than I thought it would be!" Link smiled at her, "Thanks for coming Saria." She raised an eyebrow, "Of course I'd help!" She then smiled, though still looking a bit concerned, "Come on, let's get you fixed up."

"I'll see you in a bit, then." said Young Link. Link nodded, "Be careful with the gerudo." Young Link nodded, then waved goodbye. As he was leaving, he heard Saria shout, "If you get yourself injured too, then I'll kill you!" Young Link smiled to himself, "It's so nice to have people care about you so much."

**_Hyrule Field_**

"Well...?" asked Marth. Young Link smiled at the Smashers, "He'll be fine. So, off to Gerudo Valley now, right?" Zelda nodded, while Fox asked, "So, where is this place and how far away is it?" Young Link frowned, "Well, it's pretty far away, actually..."

Captain Falcon rasied an eyebrow, "Is it really that important that we talk to this Nabooru person?" Zelda nodded, "Yes, she is one of the seven sages and the most likely to know of Ganondorf's whereabouts, especially since he may have went to his people first."

As Zelda explained this, Young Link once again took out his ocarina, then began to play Epona's Song. The Smashers stared in awe as a chestnut mare came galloping toward them, kicking up dust as she ran toward her owner. Young Link patted her affectingly as she snorted in contentment, "Hey, girl. How are you doing?"

"Okay," started Samus, "That's nice, but she can't carry all of us." "We'll have to separate." said Zelda, approaching Epona with her hand stretched out. Mario also came closer to the horse, and whispered, "Hello-a, girl." Epona's ears flattened. "Well, Zelda will have to go, being a princess and knowing Nabooru." pointed out Marth.

Peach, who was finally getting used to this new world, perked up, "I'm a princess too! So I should go as well!" Zelda kept herself from replying while Fox said, "Well, while you are a princess, Peach, you are not a princess in this world." Peach huffed, "This Nabooru should still listen to me, though!" Zelda shook her head, "Nabooru is a leader herself, and will _definitely_ not take orders from an outsider." "How rude!"

As Mario took a few more steps closer, Epona pawed at the dirt. "So..." started Luigi cautiously, "Who else-a should go?" "It should probably be someone from this time period." said Samus reasonably. Zelda nodded, then looked over at Roy and Marth, "Yes, it's just that, well, they're men..."

Falco raised an eyebrow, "Why does that --" Mario gasped, "Mama mia!" He had suddenly jumped up onto Epona's back, seeing her as being tame, but now regretted it as she neighed and jumped back on her hind legs.

"Epona!" shouted Young Link, but he couldn't calm her down, and she took off with Mario holding on for dear life, heading towards Gerudo Valley. "Dammit!" shouted Falco. "Hurry, play the song!" said Marth.

Young Link shook his head, "She won't hear it." They all stood watching Mario bounce up and down on Epona's back, over the horizon and into the setting sun. "Well," began Captain Falcon after a few minutes of Mario's fading shouting, "Maybe he can pull it off." Zelda slapped her forehead as Peach said, "Of course he can! You just wait and see!"

_**On a Horse**_

"Mama mia! Steady-a girl! PLEASE STOP-A!" Epona raced across the field, ducking under low branches of trees in an attempt to rid herself of this horrible stranger.

"Ouch!" yelled Mario as he was smacked in the face with a tree branch. Epona looked behind her, and looked at Mario as if to say, "Damn, you're still there?" When Mario saw Epona look back at him, then take off even faster before, he felt like crying. He _really _wanted to jump off, but judging how blurry the ground looked at the moment, he knew it would be a bad move.

"Please-a stop, horsey! I'll-a give you a mushroom!" Epona snorted, then continued toward the base of Gerudo Valley, sending birds flying out of the trees. When Epona ran out of trees to try and brush Mario off with, she instead caught sight of a small body of water covered with a plank.

She came to a quick stop at the edge of the water, "Aaahhh!" looked back to see that Mario was barely on, but still there, and looked back down at the water. Mario braced himself for the worst as the horse turned away from looking at him. He wanted to get off, but he didn't know if she would suddenly take off again. As he thought about this, he felt Epona's body suddenly turn from beneath him as she began to fall.

He gasped, "Mama mia!" before quickly jumping off just in time to avoid being rolled over. As the now happy Epona rolled in the water, she looked back up at Mario, her eyes seemingly saying, "What? You're still here? Get going already!" At this look, Mario paled, then turned around and took off across the plank. "Okey-dokey, then!" Anyone observing Epona's expression would have sworn that she rolled her eyes at the plumber before standing up and trotting in the opposite direction.

As Mario crossed a long, wooden bridge, he looked nervously down at the rapids below him, flowing furiously far down below between the steep, rock cliffs. He gulped, then continued across toward a tent. He thought about entering it, but then decided to just keep going.

A bit further ahead, he reached Gerudo Fortress, where rough stone buildings rose high out of the ground on the right, and a large gate laid on the left. He looked carefully at who he believed were the gerudo; tan, stern looking women with flaming red hair pulled up into pony tails and wearing loose purple pants with a small top that revealed their muscular arms and stomachs.

Self-consciously, Mario looked down at his more round belly, then looked back up at the gerudo with a gulp. Then, however, his face became more determined when he thought back to what he had accomplished, 'I have-a saved Mushroom Kingdom countless times-a! And-a fought against-a horrible monsters in-a the process! This-a should be easy!'

However, Mario did not know that it was not only the appearance of the gerudo that was tough. In fact, the gerudo are female warriors who are led by a new male-born gerudo king every century. Currently, that was Ganondorf's role, but since he took off, Nabooru was the temporary leader. Being made up of mainly females, the gerudo believe in 'girl power' and see their gender as superior to that of the male. In fact, they thought that men were just downright filthy and pathetic. As it is, men, besides the king, are not allowed in fortress unless they somehow attain a membership card by sneaking in and defeating their best fighters (as Link did). So, as Mario confidently approached one of the gerudo guards, he was spotted and shouted at, "Halt!"

Spear points came racing toward Mario, and he was surrounded in a matter of seconds. As the gerudo dressed in purple waited for their commander, who was dressed in white, they looked around at each other and Mario with raised eyebrows. When the gerudo in white arrived, she said strictly, "Who are you, intruder?"

Mario simply gaped back at first, but then threw his determined face back on, "I am-a Mario, and I have-a come to speak with-a your leader Nabooru!" One of the gerudo snickered a bit before being given a stern look. She stopped immediately, and the head gerudo faced Mario once again, "All right then, _Mario_. What makes you worthy enough to speak to our leader?"

Mario, a bit offended, replied, "Worthy? Well-a, I am the savior of-a Mushroom Kingdom!"

The words echoed throughout the silent fortress and reached the ears of all of its watching inhabitants. That was it. The line had been crossed. This short, fat man with a stupid mustache and strange speech proclaiming that he was a hero in _Mushroom Kingdom_, and so thinking himself to be better than everyone else? It was too much, even for a well-trained gerudo who had been taught strictly since birth, learning how to control emotions, how to fight with no mercy, how to be a _warrior_.

The corners of many of the gerudos' mouths twitched as they stared at this frowning man with a funny red hat. A few of them began to snicker, then some began to outright laugh, and in only a few second's time the whole fortress was laughing hysterically as Mario stood looking bewildered and offended.

"Hey-a, what--"

"HA HA HA HA!" "Mushroom Kingdom?" Some of the gerudo actually began to hold their stomachs as their eyes teared up, while others collapsed to the ground and laughed still harder. Mario was fuming, "What-a is so funny?"

As the commanding gerudo began to recompose herself, trying not to laugh in Mario's frowning face, one of the smaller gerudo in the background rolled off of the top of one of the towers. She looked like she was screaming as she fell, but once she rolled upon impact with ground, landing unharmed, she took one look at Mario and began laughing again.

"All right, enough!" shouted the gerudo commander. The gerudo shut up immediately, and Mario exclaimed, "That was-a extremely unappropiate-a! I demand an apology!"

The gerudo simply stared back at Mario with a straight face, turned to the guard on her left, then said, "Take him to jail."

"What?" shrieked Mario.

She looked back at him with a smirk, "As amusing as you are, we do not permit lying intruders in our fortress." She then turned on her heel as Mario was dragged away toward the jail, shouting, "Mama mia!"

A/N: Okay, I know I'm _really _diving into the Zelda world now, so if some things are unclear because I'm not explaining well enough, please let me know. Or, even if I'm going into too much detail for Zelda fans. Or even if you just have any questions at all! And please review!


	10. Chapter 10

**Mask Madness**

**Chapter 10: Separating in Hyrule**

"So how long of a walk is it again?" asked Falco.

Young Link squinted into the sun, looking in the general direction of Gerudo Valley, "I'm guessing at least a day."

Falco's left eye twitched at the corner, "Great..."

Mewtwo looked a bit worried, "What if Ganondorf is at the fortress when you arrive?"

The Smashers looked at Zelda as she looked concerned, "I'm not sure, but it probably wouldn't be good... In fact, if Ganondorf reclaims control, he might hurt Nabooru, and all of the gerudo would be on us." Zelda became silent for a moment, then continued, "Hopefully Nabooru has only detected him in the desert area... Or if not, well, I suppose we could at least warn her, then move on to check another area."

"I could scout the fortress before we try talking to Nabooru." added Young Link.

Zelda nodded, "That would probably be a good idea."

"We'd better hurry then." said Fox, though frowning slightly in worry.

Samus glanced around the group, "We're too slow all together." "And not all of us need to go to Gerudo Valley." added Ness. Roy looked thoughtful, "Is there anything else that needs to be done? We could easily separate."

Zelda looked thoughtful, and glanced around before saying, "We really need horses, but none of you know Malon..." She frowned, then spotted the drawbridge, "I suppose you could still buy some supplies." She looked around the group, then added, "Well, Marth and Roy can anyways."

Zelda pulled out her purse, then handed a bunch of red rupees to Marth. "All right, that should be enough." She pointed at the drawbridge, "You need to cross over the draw bridge, and then you will be in the Market Place. You can buy some supplies there." Roy and Marth nodded, and Mewtwo added, "Then the rest of us will remain here and hopefully out of sight." Zelda nodded, "It's probably for the best. When Link leaves the forest, you will be able to tell him the current situation. Hopefully, though, we'll be back before then."

"So, who is going with you?" asked Fox. "Well," started Zelda, "I think that only Young Link should come along. That way, if there is trouble, he should be able to help get us out. However, if he can't..." She frowned at the sun, "Hopefully Link will be better soon. That way, he can rescue us for sure."

"And if he can't...?" asked Fox. Zelda frowned at Fox, and remained silent. Fox raised an eyebrow, "It is possible."

Mewtwo cut in, "Then, despite our appearances, the rest of us can come and help." "And," added Peach, "Mario will be there to help!" Zelda sighed, ignoring the last comment, and looked away, "Let's get going then."

Young Link nodded at Zelda, then they began to walk toward Gerudo Valley. "When we get closer, I'll try calling Epona again." Zelda nodded, then they continued along their way as Roy and Marth headed toward town and the others found a place to try to relax in.

_**Hyrule Field**_

"So..." began Falco, glancing around the enormous field, "Where can a bunch of freaks such as ourselves hide on a huge and open field in the medieval times?"

Mewtwo rolled his eyes, "We can stay out of sight here in front of the entrance to the Kokori Forest." Captain Falcon raised an eyebrow, "But it's an entrance. I _think_ that people will want to be coming back and forth through here."

Mewtwo restrained himself from simply flinging Captain Falcon into the distant river, and replied, "People will not want to use this entrance as very few can enter and leave, remember?" Captain Falcon frowned, "What? How was I supposed to know this?"

As Mewtwo's left eye twitched and he had to work even harder to stop himself from hurling Captain Falcon into the river, BAM! Captain Falcon went soaring into the air, "Aaa--!", though his trip was cut short as he went head first into a nearby tree.

Everyone blinked in surprise as Falco, grinning, said, "Well, I was hoping to get more distance, but at least I managed to get rid of the annoyance."

Captain Falcon held his head as he stumbled around. When he finally regained his senses, he spotted Falco, who waved at him merrily. Captain Falcon's face went red as he narrowed his eyes, "What the hell did you do that for?" Falco shrugged, "I was trying to knock the stupidity out of you." As Captain Falcon yelled in rage and charged Falco, Mewtwo put up a barrier between the two of them. "Okay, that's enough! As amusing as this is, we can't be seen."

Captain Falcon growled, then mumbled something about revenge before heading back to the entrance of Kokori Forest. Kirby sighed, "I'm hungry." Ness glanced around jerkily before announcing, "I have to pee."

Mewtwo groaned as he dreaded the thought of having to be stuck with the simpletons for too long. A twig snapped, and Mewtwo looked up in alert. However, it was only Peach as she sat down against a tree. Mewtwo relaxed a bit, observing the Smashers as they attempted to make themselves comfortable. There was one noise that didn't seem to match up, though.

It was a quick movenment of quietly pounding feet, as if someone was running. Mewtwo frowned around at the Smashers, but no one was running, or doing anything similar. As the footsteps became louder, he became alert, realizing that it had to be someone else.

"Everyone, stop moving!" he whispered harshly.

Everyone froze, looking around for an intruder, but they then could also hear the sound of running feet and remained silent and still. The footsteps became even louder, now almost upon them. Most of them could see around the corner of their hiding place, and stared anxiously out at the field. When the figure finally appeared, everyone had to stop themselves from gasping out loud.

Dark Link stood just outside the long hallway like entrance to the Kokori Forest, glancing around with his blood red eyes. Everyone remained frozen, hoping desperately that the creature would continue its way in the field. Dark Link wandered around on the same spot, as if scenting out something. Finally, after what seemed like ages, it took off into the field, disappearing out of sight.

Everyone let out the breath that they had been unintentionally holding, and looked around at each other. After a few minutes, Fox was the first who dared to talk, "Who was that?" Samus answered, "I don't know, but they didn't seem human." She glanced around the group, then corrected herself, "Or, rather, uh, a truly living organism."

Falco raised an eyebrow, "Right... Well, I think I know what you mean."

Fox frowned, "Why did he look like an evil version of Link?"

Kirby gasped, "What if that _was_ Link, and he had been cursed by that forest!"

"But I thought that Link couldn't be cursed?" asked Ness.

Everyone looked around at each other, "I hope the others return soon." said Kirby.

**_Zelda and Young Link_**

'What if Ganondorf is already there?' thought Zelda to herself. 'I can't let him have my triforce piece of wisdom, but I can't let him harm Young Link either. Would Gerudo's Fortress really be his first destination? Hopefully not...'

Zelda let out a loud sigh, and Young Link looked over at her, "What is it?" Zelda came out of her thoughts, and looked down at the boy, "I'm just worried about how our trip is going to turn out. Ganondorf could have regained control of the whole fortress by now." Young Link frowned slightly, "I don't think so. Nabooru can hold her own." Zelda smiled weakly, "Of course, Nabooru is a very strong warrior.

Young Link fumbled with something in his pocket, before finally bringing out his ocarina. "Let me try calling Epona now." Zelda nodded, and he placed the instrument upon his lips. Epona's Song came out smoothly, and not too long after a galloping of hooves could be heard approaching. When Epona reached Young Link, she knickered happily as he stroked her mane. "Hey, girl!"

Meanwhile, Zelda glanced around, "Where's Mario?" Epona snorted while Young Link laughed hesitantly, knowing very well that, most likely, Epona did not treat Mario nicely, as she greatly dislikes having strangers on her back, especially if Link wasn't with them. "Mario's probably fine."

Zelda raised an eyebrow, but didn't push the matter any further as Young Link abruptly hopped onto his horse. He looked down at her, "Well?" Zelda smiled slightly while shaking her head in amusement, then climbed onto Epona's back behind Young Link. "Yah!"

Epona neighed as she took off at full speed, quickly covering the field and reaching the rocky territory of the gerudo. They crossed over the wooden plank, then the bridge that allowed them to walk across the enormous canyon. When they reached the tent on the other side, they both hopped off of Epona.

"All right, you and Epona can stay here while I check out the fortress." said Young Link. Zelda nodded, "Okay, but be careful. When should I start worrying?" Young Link thought for a moment, "Give me four hours." Zelda nodded, "All right, four hours it is then. After that, though, I'm getting help."

Young Link nodded, then took off toward the fortress. Zelda watched him disappear as she stroked Epona's fur, then sighed, "Please let this work out okay."

Young Link peered up at the darkening sky, "Good, this should make it even easier." He glanced around the fortress and took note of the guards' various positions. Once he learned their routines, he swiftly and silently ran along the side of the enormous rock. He ran past the stairs that were halfway down and went up to the right, and only stopped once he caught sight of the guard at the gate. He leveled out his breathing, then quickly headed for the furthest left building of the fortress when the guard turned to talk to another gerudo. He breathed a sigh of relief when he reached the inside of the building, then continued his way into the room.

There was a jail cell on the left side, but fortunately it was empty. 'Well, nothing suspicious so far.' He continued through the exit, then swiftly entered a different building. He successfully made it to the top level of the fortress, and at one point even spotted Nabooru.

The gerudo leader sat comfortably in her large chair, sipping some water as she enjoyed the cool shade. Although, she was a bit sweaty, possibly having just been outside a little while earlier improving her weaponry skills. Satisfied that everything seemed okay, he began to make his way back toward Zelda.

It would have been nice if he could have just talked to Nabooru himself, but it would have been awkward since he wasn't an adult when he was supposed to be, according to the time period. Now more relaxed, Young Link easily made his way back to the bottom level of the fortress again.

When he reached the kitchen, a large pot boiling with some type of liquid sitting at the front of the room, he heard a sudden cry of "intruder!" When he looked down at the gerudo, his eyes widened that he was being pointed at by one of the guards and stared at by the rest.

With a battlecry, the gerudo charged Young Link, quickly surrounding him and forcing him to jump off of the ramp. He landed solidly on the ground with a loud "thump" and was quickly followed by several "thumps" behind him. He drew his sword and abruptly turned on his heel, using his momentum to smack the gerudo behind him with the blunt side of his sword, successfully knocking her out cold.

Another gerudo, however, swiped her spear at his sword, nearly knocking it loose from his hand. As Young Link had to raise his shield against a second gerudo, a third quickly smacked his loose sword with her spear, causing it to fly to the other side of the room. Cursing, Young Link looked around for another weapon he could use.

The spear of the fallen gerudo lied near an arrangement of kitchen utensils, and he slowly inched his way toward it while keeping the furiously attacking gerudo at bay. In a few seconds, he got near enough to reach for it behind his back, though he ended up grabbing a frying pan instead of a spear.

"Dang it..." Having no time to loose as he was tiring from holding his shield up, though it hadn't been all that long, he risked using his new weapon and aimed at one of the gerudo's heads.

CLANG! The gerudo went down instantly, and the attack left a dent in the pan.

The gerudo stared at Young Link in surprise at first, grasping the fact that a child had managed to knock out one of their warriors with a kitchen utensil, but then recovered and began to attack again. Young Link winced as one of the gerudo's spears slashed through his left calf, but continued to swing around his frying pan until CLANG!

There was only one gerudo left at this point, and she growled before attacking. He quickly knocked her out as well, then stood there sweating and panting as he observed his work. "Nabooru's going to kill me if she finds out--"

"Hurry! In there! I swear I could hear some fighting!"

Young Link's eyes widened, and he took off at a sprint in the opposite direction, picking up his beloved sword in exchange for the frying pan along the way. Fortunately, he managed to make it back to Zelda without any other problems, though he got a "What happened?"

Catching his breath, Young Link answered, "Well, I had a little scrape with the gerudo, but nothing too bad."

Zelda eyed him suspiciously, "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Just had to knock out a couple of the gerudo that saw me..."

"What? Link..." Zelda smacked her forehead and sighed, "Well, we'll have to take care of that later, I suppose... So... What about Ganondorf then...?

Young Link smiled, "He doesn't seem to have shown up at all."

Zelda sighed in relief, "Good. That means we have time."

Some distant shouting could be heard, and Young Link's eyes widened as Zelda frowned at him. "Hurry, hide!" Young Link grabbed Zelda's hand, then dragged her around to the backside of the tent.

A few of the gerudo appeared, glancing around in alert. They then entered the tent to investigate, and Young Link and Zelda quietly moved to hide behind a large boulder instead. They remained silent as the gerudo searched, waiting in anticipation. When the gerudo finally left, they both sighed in relief, then Zelda raised an eyebrow at Young Link while he smiled sheepishly back.

"Um," he began, "Maybe we should wait until tomorrow morning to talk to Nabooru." Zelda groaned, "I wish we could, but we don't have time. Let's get you cleaned up. Did many of the gerudo see you?"

Young Link shook his head, "Only four. But I knocked them out." "Well, let's see if we can get to Nabooru before they wake up." Young Link looked at Zelda in surprise, who merely smiled back.

After cleaning themselves up a bit, they walked as calmly as possible into the fortress, and not long after they were approached by a few of the guards, "Halt! Who goes there?"

Zelda straightened her back, then answered, "I am Zelda, the Princess of Hyrule. And this is Link, my companion. I wish to talk to your leader, Nabooru."

The guard turned to the gerudo on her left, then told her to check with Nabooru if it would be all right for Zelda to see her. When the guard returned a little while later, and claimed that Nabooru approved of the visit, Zelda and Young Link were led inside the fortress.

"So, Zelda, what brings you here?" asked Nabooru. She then spotted Young Link, and raised an eyebrow, "What...?"

"Well," Zelda interrupted, "I was hoping that we could speak in private."

Nabooru gave Zelda a strange look, then nodded at the guards. When the guards left, Nabooru turned on Young Link, "What happened?"

He hesitated, "It's, well, kind of a long story..." Nabooru glanced back and forth between the two of them, then sighed. "Well, take a seat then."

**_Kokori Forest_**

As the night came upon the Kokori Forest, Saria sat next to Link, always checking that he was doing okay. She sighed as she stared at his sleeping face, "You're going to make me die from a heart attack one day."

She glanced out the window, then stood up and stretched her legs. She walked outside and stared up at the shimmering stars in the dark blue sky. 'Why can't there be peace for a little while here in Hyrule?'

She continued to stare at the stars, lost in her thoughts. A twig snapped, and Saria gasped in alarm. She glanced around for any sign of movement, but saw nothing. After awhile, she finally shrugged it off and went back to her stargazing. However, not long after she could have sworn she heard a swish of a branch.

She looked for the source of the noise immediately, but again spotted nothing. Glancing around one more time, she finally went back into the house, having the feeling that she better keep an extremely close eye on Link. Saria sighed, "It's going to be a long night."

**_Off To Town_**

"Finally, we're almost there!" Marth looked up at the darkening sky, "Good thing too. I don't want to have to sleep out in the field tonight."

Roy nodded in agreement, smiling at the drawbridge. The sky steadily grew darker, until eventually they were only a couple of yards away from the drawbridge.

All of a sudden, two large torches embedded in the rock wall lit up with fire, and there was a creaking of metal and wood as the drawbridge began to be lifted up. Marth and Roy gaped at the bridge, looked at each other, then ran for the drawbridge.

"Hurry, or we'll be locked out!" shouted Roy.

"Hey guard, up there, leave the bridge down for a few more seconds, will you?" yelled Marth.

When they reached the bridge, it was already a quarter of the way up. "Hurry, Marth, jump off of my shoulders!"

Marth did so, and managed to catch the end of the bridge. He slipped a bit, but then caught himself and scrambled onto the bridge. He then quickly turned around and leant over the side to help Roy up. They managed to grab each other's hands, but the drawbridge became even more vertical, and they both ended up dangling on opposite sides.

The bridge came to a stop, and Roy groaned, "Well this is just great!"

"Can you grab the edge?" asked Marth from the other side of the bridge.

Roy yelled back, "I think so!"

Marth let go of one of Roy's hands, and Roy grabbed the edge of the bridge.

"Okay, I'm fine!"

Marth let go completely, and Roy hauled himself onto the bridge. He caught his breath, then looked down at the dangling Marth.

"Well, that was fun, wasn't it?"

Marth frowned, then let go of the bridge and landed on the ground inside the town. Roy quickly followed, and after landing he spotted Marth fuming at a nearby guard.

"You couldn't have waited just a few more seconds?"

The guard shook his head, "No, the rules are that the drawbridge has to be closed at night, no matter what."

"So," began Marth, clearly irritated, "Even if there are peoples' lives in jeopardy because you happen to lift the drawbridge even when they are on it, it doesn't matter because it's following the rules."

The guard nodded, "I suppose so. We have to keep the monsters out."

Marth simply scowled at the guard, scratched up from his encounter with the drawbridge, and abruptly lashed out his foot and kicked the guard in the shin. "Ouch! Hey! What's the big idea?"

Marth stormed off, and Roy quickly took off after him, not even bothering to apologize to the guard. "So," began Roy, "Want to go relax at a nice inn or something?" Marth sighed, "Yes, that would be nice." "All right, let's try that one." They entered the bar of an inn, and came up to the keeper.

"Excuse me, how much is it for a room and some food?" The inn keeper looked at Marth and Roy, then smiled, "Why, hello there! A room, then? Well, that costs 50 rupees, and you can get a good meal and some nice alcohol for a good price here at the bar."

Marth nodded, pulled out 50 rupees, then handed them to the inn keeper. "All right, here's your key. Have a nice stay." "Thank you."

Roy and Marth took a seat at the bar, "So, what do you think about some alcohol?" asked Roy. Marth raised an eyebrow, "We can't drink right now. Besides, that stuff is foul."

Roy shrugged as he looked around at all of the drunk people dancing on a nearby table. Marth rolled his eyes, "You don't want to end up like them, do you?" "I don't know, it kind of looks like fun." Roy joked. Marth rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Why do they have to be so loud." "They're not that loud." replied Roy. Marth sighed, "I'm going up to the room." "Okay, I'll see you in a bit then."

A little while later, the bartender came up to Roy, "What'll you have?" "Well, what nonalcoholic drinks do you have?" asked Roy. "The bartender snorted, "Milk, juice, and water." Roy smiled embarrassedly, "Oh, well, some juice then please."

The bartender went into the back, and Roy continued to look around the bar. When he received his juice, he took a sip and smacked his lips together, "Strange, but pretty tasty." He continued to drain the glass, then began to hiccup.

One of the drunk women dancing on the table, a tall brunette with brown eyes, saw him staring, then smiled at him as she came over. "Want to dance?" Roy nodded, "Sure, what can it hurt?"

Roy hopped up onto the table, and was one of the drunks soon enough. The bartender smirked at Roy on the table, "Nonalcoholic, ha! Give me a break."

A few hours later, Marth began to worry about Roy, 'What's taking him so long? I guess he could be just having fun.' He went to go to bed, but then decided against it, 'I'll just go check up on him. Those drunks were pretty wild.'

He went downstairs, and looked over at the bar immediately. He frowned when he saw that Roy wasn't there, then scowled at the ridiculously loud drunks who had now pulled together four tables to create a dancing floor. When he saw a shock of red hair, however, his eyes widened in surprise, "Roy!"

Roy, who was currently clumsily dancing with the other drunks, could not hear Marth over the noise. Marth went up to the tables and yelled even louder, "ROY!"

Roy blinked, then finally spotted a furious Marth, "Oh, 'ey Marth!"

"What are you doing?"

Roy hiccuped, then said, "Having fun!"

The drunks cheered, one falling off of the tables, and another passing out.

"It's time to go, Roy."

"Awww, but why?"

Marth grabbed Roy's wrist, then pulled him off of the tables.

"Ouch. Well, bye 'veryone!"

"Bye Roy!"

Marth dragged Roy up the stairs and into the room, then turned on him instantly, "Why did you drink? What if we're attacked?"

"What? I didn't drink! I only had some juice!"

Marth rolled his eyes, "Whatever, you'll pay for it in the morni--" He sighed as Roy had passed out on the floor, snoring loudly. Marth left him that way, and hopped into bed. "Guess I'm going to have to gather all of the supplies myself tomorrow."

A/N: Well, about time, huh? I know this took forever, and I apologize, but I have just been so busy lately, what with finals this Saturday in Cross Country, on top of work, which has been like 6 days a week lately, and school. So, with that, I hope you review. Bye!


	11. Chapter 11

**Mask Madness**

**Chapter 11: Yet Another Mask?**

"So, let me get this straight," started Nabooru with a slight frown, "Young Link here was brought to a different time period from the past by Ganondorf, who used the luphira stone to accomplish this. He was brought to a tournament, where everyone else was at, in a time period far in the future. Ganondorf cheated in his battle with Majora, though their was some fighting and confusion between the two of them. However, in the end it was Link who became greatly injured and so ended up stuck in the infirmary. Then Ganondorf attacked Link one night, with some sort of necklace that allowed him to steal,"

Nabooru scowled deeply, then continued, "the triforce of courage. Ganondorf then used the luphira stone to travel to Hyrule, and all of you were forced to follow. Now, Ganondorf is somewhere here in Hyrule, plotting to take over."

Young Link nodded, "That pretty much covers it."

Nabooru growled, "This isn't good at all! How did he escape his imprisonment in the Sacred Realm anyways?"

Zelda shook her head sadly, "I don't know."

There was silence as Nabooru frowned at the floor in thought. Zelda glanced at Nabooru every now and then, waiting for an answer, as Young Link yawned widely.

Nabooru sighed, rubbing her temples, "Ganondorf could be anywhere, doing only the goddesses know what. I suppose I could send some of my warriors out to check the spirit temple."

Nabooru looked up at Zelda, "I would go see Impa. See how things are going with the Sheikah. She might be able to sense something."

Zelda nodded, and Nabooru looked over at Young Link. When she saw him with his head bent down over his chest, his eyes closed, and his chest rising slowly and steadily up and down, she smiled, "He is still just a kid."

Nabooru looked back at Zelda, "Now, as for the Link from _our_ time period, well... I think we need to keep a very close eye on him. And as for the others from the tournament... See if Impa can come up with some good disguises. They need to be able to do more than just sit in a field."

Zelda nodded, and Nabooru stood up. "I think it's time we call it a night."

Zelda nodded in agreement as she too stood up. Nabooru retrieved two of her guards, then had them show Young Link and Zelda to a bedroom. As Zelda followed the guards to the room, Young Link, still sound asleep, was carried by one of them.

**_In the Market_**

"Owwwwww…." Roy painfully opened his eyes, though regretting it after the light poured in.

He coughed, then rubbed the back of his head. "What happened…? Why do I feel so awful?"

Awkwardly, he got up to his feet, then stumbled into the bathroom. With a groan, he splashed water on his face. He slowly looked around the room, and, noticing that Marth had left, walked over to the door, squinted into the hallway, then made his way downstairs.

Roy spotted Marth sitting at a table, and sat next to him with a moan, dropping his head on the table. Marth rolled his eyes, then asked, "Enjoying your hangover?"

Roy lifted his head slightly and looked up at Marth, "What…?"

"You got drunk last night."

Roy blinked, "I did?"

"You sure did."

Roy groaned again, "Well… I don't remember drinking…"

Marth sighed, "Of course you wouldn't, Mr. I Only Had Juice."

Roy raised his head at this, "I did! Honestly! It must have been spiked!"

"Sure…" replied Marth sarcastically.

Roy glared, "Well, you get to retrieve the supplies on your own, anyways."

"Yes, and you have to be happy with what I choose."

"Whatever…" replied Roy painfully, his headache attacking with full force.

Marth stood up from his chair, "Well, I'm off. Stay here, okay?"

"Don't have to worry about that." replied Roy bitterly.

Marth walked out onto the market street, then observed the shops around him. "Where to start…"

_**In Hyrule Field**_

As the morning sun shined on Hyrule Field, a couple stomachs growled hungrily.

"Food!" shouted Kirby miserably.

"I wonder how long Marth and Roy will be?" asked Fox.

Falco groaned, "I don't know, but I'm tired of just sitting around! There's bound to be something to catch on this field."

Falco stood up, then loaded his gun.

"But we can't be seen!" shouted Ness.

"There's no one out here!" shouted Falco, waving his arms for emphasis.

Fox sighed, "Well, if you're going to hunt, at least let me come with you."

Mewtwo agreed, "Keep each other out of trouble, and return within two hours at the most."

Falco smiled, "No problem. C'mon Fox!"

The two of them walked out onto the field, and Kirby asked hopefully, "Think they'll have any luck?"

Samus rolled her eyes, "Not a chance."

**_Gerudo Fortress_**

As morning light came in through the fortress window, Young Link blearily opened his eyes, then sat up in bed, stretching and yawning widely. He hopped out of bed, then put his boots on. As he left the room, he noticed two gerudo guards standing outside in the hallway.

"Um, excuse me?" They looked down at him with raised eyebrows, and he continued, "Do you know where Princess Zelda is?"

They pointed to the next room, and Young Link hesitantly thanked them before quickly knocking on Zelda's door.

"Princess?"

There was a "Come in!" from inside, and Young Link opened the door. "Good morning. So, what's our next destination?

Zelda answered, "Hyrule Castle. We need to talk to Impa about some things."

"But what about Mario?" asked Young Link.

Zelda's eyes grew large, "Oh no! I forgot about Mario!"

She quickly got up and left the room, proceeding to ask the gerudo guard for permission to visit Nabooru. Zelda and Young Link were once again led to Nabooru, the gerudo leader smiling at them, "How is everything? About to leave?"

Zelda's cheeks turned pink in embarrassment before replying, "Well, almost. It's just that we are missing something… Or rather, someone."

Nabooru raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Well, we sort of lost someone on the way here, and I wondered if you had maybe spotted him."

"Possibly. We do have a new prisoner."

Zelda gaped a bit, then asked, "Oh. Well, could you describe him?"

Nabooru nodded, "Yes, he was very strange." She laughed a bit, "In fact, he caused the whole fortress to laugh hysterically!"

Both Zelda and Young Link gave each other confused looks at this. "Anyways," continued Nabooru, "He was short, dressed in a lot of red, had a funny black mustache, and claimed to be the savior of 'Mushroom Kingdom'. Oh, and his name was Maria, or something weird like that."

"Oh, it's Mario! Please release him, Nabooru. He means no harm." asked Zelda.

"Of course. Though it'll be a shame to lose the entertainment."

Nabooru sent her guards to reluctantly retrieve Mario from the dungeon. When he appeared, his face was red with anger, but otherwise just fine.

"I can't-a believe this! The teasing-a never stopped!"

The guards snickered a bit before recomposing themselves. "Well, thank you very much for everything you have done, Nabooru. We should be going now." said Zelda.

Just as Mario was about to rant again, Young Link kicked him lightly in the shin to keep him quiet. Mario scowled, but obediently followed his companions outside of the fortress.

"Thank-a goodness we're-a out-a there! And Link-a," he started, turning toward Young Link with a meaningful look, "You-a need to train-a your horsey better!"

**_Kokori Forest_**

As Link slept on through the early morning, Saria decided to make some breakfast. She hummed her tune to herself as took out the frying pan, feeling some relief as she did. Once she got her meal cooking, she peeked out of the kitchen and glanced at Link, and, smiling in satisfaction, went back to her enjoyment of cooking.

However, a few minutes later, she heard footsteps on her wooden floor, and stiffened a bit. But then, when she heard her name called by a familiar voice, she relaxed again. She walked out to the entrance of her house and spotted Mido, who, to her concern, seemed agitated and worried.

"Mido? What is it?"

Mido jumped a bit, but then turned toward her, "Oh, hi Saria! I just wanted to let you know that, well, there seems to be something sneaking around the village, and I wanted to warn you to be cautious."

"Oh, do you know what it is?"

Mido shook his head, "No idea. But it doesn't seem to want to leave or come out of hiding. It's really weird."

Saria nodded, "Well, I'll keep a lookout. Thanks for the tip."

Mido smiled, "No problem!" then left.

When Mido left, Saria could smell something burning. "What...?" Her eyes widened in realization, "Ah! Breakfast!"

She rushed to the kitchen, grabbed the pan, then rushed outside with it, the smoke marking her trail. While Saria disposed of her ruined food, a few tree branches swished over her house.

More footsteps could once again be heard on Saria's floor, though faintly. They made their way towards the bedroom as Saria slowly made her way back to her house. When Saria entered her home, she froze, the hairs standing up on the back of her neck. As she stood there, she heard a sliding of metal on metal. Her eyes widened, but she forced herself to remain silent. She quickly but quietly made her way to the bedroom, and almost screamed at the sight before her.

As Link continued to sleep obliviously, a shadow version of him had a sword raised above his neck. Acting on instinct, Saria swinged her frying at the back of the shadow, throwing him off balance. His red eyes narrowed at the Kokori, but then as quickly as he had entered the house, he left, jumping swiftly out of the window and back up into the trees.

Still being cautious, Saria looked out of the window, though she couldn't see a trace of the fiend.

"Saria...?"

She whipped around quickly, frying pan raised, but then relaxed when she saw that it was just Link, who had finally awoken. She only stared at him at first, then dropped the frying pan on the ground and hugged him.

"I'm so sorry Link! That was too close!"

Link's eyes widened in surprise, "What? Saria, what's going on?"

She stepped back a bit, and sighed, "I only left the house for a little while, having, well, burned breakfast. But when I saw him with his sword raised over you when I got back..."

"Wait, what? Who?" asked Link in shock, amazed that he had slept through all of this.

"There was, um, a sort of dark and shadowy version of yourself. And he was about to kill you!"

Link gaped, "Dark Link...? But how?"

"Wait, so it is a darker version of yourself?" asked Saria.

Link hesitated, "Well, sort of. Ganondorf created him to look like me, though to fight like me as well, I suppose, and placed him in the water temple, but I defeated him..."

Saria gasped, "You don't think Ganondorf recreated him, do you? That would mean he's back!"

Link looked at Saria sadly, "I didn't want you to have to worry so soon, but, well, Ganondorf is definitely back."

Saria gasped, "What? But how?"

Link shrugged, "We don't know."

Saria raised an eyebrow, "But then how do you know that he's back?"

Link sighed, "It's a long story..."

**_In Hyrule Field_**

Fox sighed, "Falco, there's nothing out here-" "Ssh!" interrupted Falco, putting out his wing, "Look! Over there!"

When Fox peered around Falco and to where he was pointing, Fox raised an eyebrow, "You think that thing's edible?"

"Well," began Falco, "Maybe it's a large fruit or something. It kinda looks like a large pineapple."

As he tilted his head a bit, Fox rolled his eyes, "I doubt it's a pineapple." "It could be a medieval version." retorted Falco.

Fox sighed, "Okay, let's make a deal. If we go over there and find the thing to be pretty similar to a pineapple, then great. We take it back to the others and... I guess, after checking it... eat it. However, if it isn't, we still go back to the others."

Falco nodded, "Fine. Now, let's go!"

They walked over to the fruit-like plant and looked it over curiously. "Think the plant could be poisonous?" asked Fox. Falco shrugged, "I'll just make sure not to touch it." "How...?"

Fox's eyes widened as Falco pulled out a sword. "Where did you get that?" shouted Fox. The plant moved slightly, but neither of them noticed. Falco grinned, "Kirby leant it to me."

Falco swinged the sword around experimentally, then turned toward the plant. Fox, backing up a few steps, yelled, "Don't destroy it!" Falco nodded, "Don't worry."

Falco narrowed his eyes in concentration, aiming for the roots, then swinged with all his might. "BOING!" The blade did no real damage and bounced right off of the plant.

Fox laughed hysterically as Falco regained his composure. He turned his back on the plant as he went to yell at Fox, "I'd like to see you try!" There was a ripping sound from behind, and as Fox gaped and pointed, Falco's face dropped before turning around.

"Aaahhhhh!" they yelled simultaneously. The "plant" had jumped out of the ground, and was now flying with blades swirling around it. They both bolted, Fox shouting sarcastically, "Oh yeah! Some pineapple that thing is!"

Falco glanced back, ignoring this comment, and yelled, "Hey, look!" It turned out that the plant-monster wasn't very fast, and they had already outrun it. They both began to walk, "Man, that was freaky!" said Falco. Fox nodded, "I'm never going to mess with another foreign plant again."

Falco nodded, but then paused temporarily, "Wait... Do you hear something? Like a, well, mini helicopter?" They both turned around to find baby versions of the plant-monster flying quickly towards them, blades slicing through the air.

"Aaaaaahhhh!" Again they were off, heading in the direction of the entrance to Kokori Forest.

At the entrance, Kirby stared desperately out at the field for Fox and Falco to return with some sort of food. Finally able to hear something, he jumped up, shouting "Food!" Everyone else looked at him, then looked out at the field.

They began to hear some kind of whirring noise. "What on earth...?" asked Samus. They all got up to venture out and see what the noise was, but it turned out that they didn't have to.

Just as the screaming could be heard, Fox and Falco ran by into their field of vision, quickly followed by miniature, flying plant-like things with blades, eventually along with what looked to be the mother. Everyone gaped, looked at each other, then rushed off to help.

**_In the Market_**

Marth looked down at the red rupees in confusion, "So how much are these jewels worth anyways?" He sighed, "Guess I'll have to find out. I wonder if the others on the field are just sleeping all day. Probably are..."

Marth finally ended up entering a food store, where he bought lots of dried fruit and meat. Then he also decided to buy other, possibly helpful things, such as rope and healing potions. He also bought bombs, smiling as he thought of more than one way in which he could use them. All in all, he ran out of money pretty quickly.

"Hmmm, I wonder if that'll be enough?" He shrugged, then decided to do some browsing. The mask shop had caught his attention early on. When he came into the store, he was amazed at the amount of masks hanging on the wall. There were ones of skulls, fish people, women with red hair, rock people, zombie-creatures, and more.

"Hello, good sir!" piped a voice from behind the counter. Marth looked over at the rather small and hunched-over man, then greeted, "Oh, uh, hello. Interesting shop."

The mask salesman nodded, "It certainly is, isn't it? Do any of them take your fancy?" Marth shrugged, "I don't know which to choose. Besides, I don't have any money on me right now."

"Oh, that's okay!" said the salesman, "If you want, I can give you a little job." Marth raised an eyebrow, "A job?" The salesman nodded, "Yes, in helping to sell my masks. I'm guessing that you travel a lot?" Marth nodded, "Well, yeah, I suppose..." "Then you're perfect! All you have to do is carry one mask at a time, sell it to someone, then give me the money back."

Marth hesitated, "Thanks, but I don't think I'd do a very good job." "I'll give you a free mask." insisted the salesman. Marth perked up a bit, "Any mask?"

The salesman nodded, "Anyone you want!" "Well," started Marth, "What do you have?" "What do I have?" laughed the mask salesman. "Well, where do I start?"

He disappeared behind the counter, then brought out a large box full of various masks. Marth gaped, "Well, uh, wow." The mask salesman nodded, "Go ahead."

Marth started to dig through the box, and came upon a cow mask. He raised an eyebrow, "What good is this for?" The mask salesman shrugged, "Who knows? Every mask varies in gifts and power. I cannot know them all."

Imagining himself transforming into a cow, Marth decided against the mask. After digging for an hour so, the salesman became impatient with Marth. "Nothing?" "Well..." began Marth, "I want something that will help me in a battle, but I can't seem to really find anything for it."

"A battle?" the salesman asked curiously, "as in a large, difficult battle, perhaps?" Marth nodded, though a bit suspicious, and continued, "Yes, well, possibly anyways. I mean, I've just joined up with a group of people, and, well, it's sort of complicated..."

The mask salesman nodded understandingly, "Who's in the group? Anyone I know?" "Well..." Marth hesitated, deciding whom it was safe to talk about. 'Maybe Roy?' he thought. 'Or someone that the salesman may actually know, like Link or Zelda? Well, probably not Zelda, as she's the princess, though probably not Link either, except... Well, didn't Link have the masks to begin with? Maybe the two were friends?'

Marth finally decided that the salesman was harmless anyways, and replied, "Well, what about Link?" The mask salesman froze, "Did you say Link?" Marth nodded a bit worriedly, "Yes..."

The salesman suddenly jumped up, smiling and laughing, "Yes! Finally! Please, sir!" shouted the salesman, turning towards Marth, "You must let him know that something terrible has happened!"

Marth nodded, "O-Of Course."

"Please, listen carefully. Tell Link that Majora's Mask has once again escaped my grasp." Marth sighed, "He already knows."

The mask salesman's eyes widened, "He does? How?" "There was an encounter with it..." answered Marth. The salesman smiled, "So the mask has been recaptured?" Marth shook his head, "No, it just disappeared..."

The salesman frowned, "Disappeared...?" For a little while, it was quiet as the salesman thought and Marth waited. The salesman growled quietly, making Marth jump.

Marth stepped away a bit as the salesman sighed, "Well, that's certainly not good, but I don't-" He paused, his eyes lighting up, "Wait!" He rushed into the back room, leaving Marth debating on whether or not to make a run for it. However, he wasn't fast enough as the salesman reappeared with a small box.

Marth looked at it curiously as the salesman opened it carefully. He lifted a white mask out, and Marth had a strange feeling overcome him as he stared at the mask. The mask had white hair and a face somewhat similar to that of Link's face, though it had very strange markings on it, almost like war paint

"This is the Fierce Deity Mask, and a mask that possess amazing, yet terrifying power." Marth stared at the mask in amazement while the salesman continued, "As far as I know, only Link can wear it safely. Marth," he began, looking up at the swordsman, "If you help me sell masks, I will give you the Fierce Deity Mask."

Marth nodded in agreement, "I'll do it." The salesman nodded, then began to hand over the mask. As Marth reached out for it, however, the salesman suddenly took it back a bit, "But remember, DO NOT wear this mask yourself. Only deliver it to Link. Understand?"

Marth nodded grimly, then received the mask from the salesman. After Marth carefully wrapped and placed the mask in his sack of supplies, the mask salesman went back into his joyful mood. "Now, my good employee! Here is the first mask that I would like you to sell."

Marth received a mask of a small child, apparently of a Kokori according to the salesman, and placed it in his bag. "Well, thank you. I'll do my best." said Marth. The mask salesman nodded, "I'm sure you'll do fine. Now go! My shop is closing!"

Marth left, feeling a bit weirded out by the experience, though satisfied with having gained possession of the Fierce Deity Mask. "Every little bit of help will get us closer to our goal."

A/N: Well, finally another chapter. There have been a few "little" mishaps lately, such as, well, my computer completely crashing on me out of the clear blue and the car accident which involved me hitting black ice in my dad's truck, hitting a ditch, and so flipping and totaling the truck. But otherwise, not much. (rolls eyes) Anyways, please review! And please let me know if this story is really worth continuing.


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